Whole Beast Butchery: The Complete Visual Guide to Beef, Lamb, and Pork by Ryan Farr and Brigit Binns, $40 (Chronicle Books)

In the more than two years since Ryan Farr and his wife, Cesalee, founded 4505 Meats, the artisanal butcher has achieved nationwide fame. He has been called a "rock star butcher" by the New York Times and recently appeared on the Martha Stewart Show.

In Whole Beast Butchery, Farr provides step-by-step pictures and instructions for butchering cattle, lambs, and pigs, as well as tips on tools, techniques, meat storage, and master recipes.

In preparation for his talk this Saturday at Omnivore Books, SFoodie had the opportunity to chat with Farr about his experience working on the book.

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Steven Gdula/Bloomsbury

Gobs in their first incarnation (left) and the Gobba Gobba Hey cookbook.

​In his lovely essay "Never Can Say Goodbye," author and food entrepreneur Steven Gdula lays out his decision to stop his Gobba Gobba Hey baking business after 33 months, having faced a crossroads on whether to expand or focus on other pursuits.

Born on the streets of the Mission District in 2009, Gobba Gobba Hey sold "gobs," a "cake-like confection" (Gdula's words) that often got mistaken for whoopie pies, off of a tray. Back home in Pennsylvania, these were almost always of a chocolate variety, filled with plain buttercream, but Gdula utilized the bounty of California produce to create flavors like pistachio orange and lemon thyme.

Newly transplanted to San Francisco from Washington, D.C., Gdula was inspired by emerging street food mavens like the Magic Curry Cart and the Crème Brûlée Cart (brothers Brian and Curtis Kimball) and quickly became a peer. As Gdula writes:

The pace was exciting. It was exhilarating to be a part of a burgeoning movement that was being created daily as other new vendors like myself stepped onto the streets to sell their wares. But it wasn't just the people making the food who were responsible for the new scene. The food bloggers, Yelpers, local media, Twitter followers and even the curious neighbors who came to see what this mobile buffet was all about, all were part of it. We all made this thing happen. And having just relocated to San Francisco several months prior, this was my new community in more ways than one.

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Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free by Karen Morgan (Chronicle Books $24.95)

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We usually don't review cookbooks by non-local authors here at SFoodie, but sometimes we'll make an exception in the case of something exciting or different that catches our eye.

There's no way around the fact that gluten-free cookbooks tend to be boring and bland. They are often written by unskilled chefs and geared towards the health food community rather than people who actually enjoy flavor. Fortunately, that's not the case with this book. Karen Morgan is not gluten-free by choice. The self-trained pastry chef was forced to give up gluten in 2002 after being diagnosed with Celiac disease.

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​What: Mitch Rosenthal Reading

Where: Omnivore Books

When: Thurs., November 17, 6-7 p.m.

Cost: Free

The rundown: Mitch Rosenthal, the esteemed chef from such San Francisco institutions as Town Hall, Anchor & Hope, and Salt House, will speak about his new cookbook, Cooking My Way Back Home. The tome features recipes from all the restaurants he's worked at, so if you've been dying to find out just exactly what's in that special sauce at Salt House, today is your day.

Jacques Pepin says the book "reflects Mitch's passion, enthusiasm, and great talent, and his love of cooking shines throughout the book. This is a great addition to your kitchen library." Who are you to argue with Jacques Pepin? Meet Rosenthal, peep his gorgeous book, and maybe even taste some of his food for free, tonight.

​What: Camino Staff Meal

Where: Camino

When: Wed., November 16, 6 pm.

Cost: $50

The rundown: Oakland's Camino is hosting a special dinner to celebrate the debut of Marissa Guggiana's new cookbook, Off the Menu: Staff Meals from America's Top Restaurants. Guggiana will be at the event, signing copies of the book, which features staff meal recipes from Camino and many other S.F. Bay Area restaurants, including Flour + Water, Delfina, and Osteria Stellina. If you're not familiar with the term "staff meal" in relation to restaurants, it's exactly what it sounds like -- the meal a restaurant's staff enjoys after service is done for the night. Therefore, the menus and recipes in this book are good for feeding large amounts of people inexpensively. Or one really awesome cheap hungry person.

Price includes beer, wine, and a special meal prepared by the Camino staff... family-style, of course. Tickets available online.

​Bay Area-based food writer Carol Field spent two years in Italy, learning classic Italian breads and pastries for The Italian Baker. This award-winning book, first published in 1985, has been praised by everyone from Alice Waters to Mario Batali.

Bread is such an integral part of the Italian culture and so highly regarded that children are taught not to waste even a crumb, "Should a bit accidentally fall to the floor, it must be picked up, immediately cleaned off, and eaten," she writes. "It is said that anyone wasting bread will be condemned to purgatory for as many years as there were crumbs."

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​San Francisco's One City, One Book program is hoping to get as many residents as possible to read Mary Roach's Packing For Mars this fall -- but the incentive to do so just got a little bit sweeter.

Smitten Ice Cream is partnering with One City, One Book to make the reading experience multi-sensory: they're created a new space-themed flavor, Moon Pie, to pair with the book's discussion of the oddities of space life.

On Thursday and Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at noon, the S.F. Public Library will set up a table outside Smitten's Hayes Valley location (432 Octavia at Fell) and give away a copy of the book to the first handful of people who show up and buy Smitten's Moon Pie flavor.

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Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food by Sam Mogannam and Dabney Gough

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The San Francisco restaurant scene is rife with restaurant cookbooks these days, with what seems like every popular chef and restaurateur working on a collection of favorite recipes. There are so many wonderful books about local food, that it is becoming harder to choose which ones to buy. Part grocery buying guide, part cookbook, Eat Good Food, a go-to local food encyclopedia, should be on the top of the list for you and all your food geek friends.

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​Brooklyn Brewery's brewmaster Garrett Oliver knows a lot about beer, and you're about to as well -- 960 pages of knowledge.

As the editor of the beer-buff tome The Oxford Companion to Beer (out in early October), Oliver will be tapping into his expertise as a beer-mind for both the connoisseur and dilettante at Omnivore Books' event -- and did we mention the free beer?

SF's own Dogpatch-area Almanac Brewery will be on hand with free brew (specific type TBA, according to Omnivore Books' owner Celia Sack). Oliver is set to give a talk and answer questions all while the malt and hops stay hopping.

The book itself is already garnering praise, and it promises to be a comprehensive resource for those in the know and those hoping to get there some day. But glance over at an interview with Oliver and then come hear him yourself -- drinks are on us.

Garrett Oliver will be at Omnivore Books on Food on Monday, Oct. 3 from 6 to 7 p.m. Omnivore Books is at 3885a Cesar Chavez Street (at Church) in the Mission.

​The Kokkari cookbook shares kitchen secrets and favorite recipes from San Francisco's most esteemed Greek restaurant. Erik Cosselman and Janet Fletcher do a excellent job of transposing the luxurious feeling of the restaurant's dining experience into the pages of the book.

Talented local photographer Sara Remington captures the essence of Greece and Kokkari's food in her photos. Sara spent a week in Greece shooting photos for the book and says, "I basically ate my weight in the amazing food there...greens, fish, cheese etc."

After reading the book, I'm inspired to plan a trip to Greece myself or if nothing else, make a reservation at Kokkari.

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