San Francisco Food Blog

Was it a case of poor management from the very beginning?

​There's more information coming forth about why the S.F. Department of Public Health has essentially driven a stake through the heart of foods prepared on-site at the Metreon's Island Earth farmers' market. SFoodie has obtained a Nov. 5 letter from Department Director Mitchell Katz to Island Earth market managers Mark and Holly Brett suggesting that the Bretts never should have allowed prepared food vendors in the market in the first place.

In his letter, Katz points out that the Bretts obtained a farmers' market permit in May. And while the market has three certified farmers, the numerous prepared food vendors needed to operate under a separate food permit. As a result, the Health Department determined that Island Earth could really only qualify for a temporary food permit -- the kind street fairs and weekly farmers' market operate under -- but that permit, according to Katz, "explicitly limits operations to 25 days in 90." In other words, Island Earth had long since used up its prepped food permit.

The only solutions Katz can see are expensive: Have individual vendors essentially build mini kitchens, or have the Metreon build a central commissary kitchen and operate as a food court. However, Katz wrote, "both would involve substantial capital investments to meet the higher standard of structural requirements imposed on all daily operating retail businesses." In other words: Sorry, Island Earth -- foods cooked or held at temperature on-site are out of the question.

Cupkates Bakery

Kate McEachern (in truck) is continuing to sell, despite having been told she's violating the law.

​Cupkates mobile cupcake vendor Kate McEachern told SFoodie she's still waiting to hear from Berkeley city officials about her dispute over where she's legally allowed to sell. Last Friday, a code enforcement officer told McEachern she was violating the law for selling from metered parking spaces, something McEachern said the city had allowed her to do since Cupkates launched in August.

On Wednesday, we reported that the vendor was unable to speak with an assistant city manager about what McEachern charges is Berkeley's about-face. Last night, Councilmember Kriss Worthington called McEachern, and said he'd try to get the issue resolved with City Manager Phil Kamlarz. It's unclear whether she'll be allowed to attend the meeting that might or might not take place Monday.

In the meantime, McEachern has been continuing to sell from the very metered parking spaces she was told last week were off limits to mobile vendors. "I am still operating as usual, out of financial necessity," McEachern told SFoodie. Earlier this week, she informed the offices of both the city manager and Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates that she'd be selling along her usual route. Since then, no code enforcement or other officer has approached her.

Andrew B./Yelp

The former Spud's in South Berkeley will offer N.Y.-style pizzas with Cali toppings.

​Looks like South Berkeley is set to become Ground Zero for the next wave of Bay Area pizza frenzy. Hot on the heels of Emilia's (2995 Shattuck at Ashby) comes word of Addie's Pizza Pie, a collaboration between Thomas Schnetz (Dona Tomas, Flora, Tacubaya) and pastry chef Jennifer Millar, owner of Sweet Adeline Bakeshop (3350 Adeline at 63rd St., Berkeley). The location is 3290 Adeline (at Ashby), the historic bank building that was home to Spud's Pizza. Barring delays (pretty much inevitable with new restaurants), Millar is hoping for a February opening.

The concept? Pizza by the round or the slice, including the ability to customize with toppings. "It'll be New York style, but with California ingredients, not wood-fired," Millar told SFoodie. Salads, and an emphasis on both takeout and family-style eat-in. And something else: frozen custard. "It's sort of an East Coast-Midwestern ice cream type," explained Miller, who's spent time in both upstate New York and Wisconsin. "It's an ice cream enriched with egg yolks, churned at a slower speed, and held at a warmer temperature." In other words, a particularly luscious soft serve. And the restaurant will do what Millar calls "concretes," -- i.e., mix-ins.

Millar is 50-50 with Schnetz (Dona Savitsky, Schnetz's partner in other projects, isn't involved), who's also designing the space. Millar says the idea is to work with the building's classic elements (arched windows, terrazzo and marble floors) to approximate an old-school Italian restaurant.

p200eric

Somewhere out there lurks an amazing bowl of pho.

​Adam Martin of Grub Street SF grabs phone time with Jonathan Kauffman -- starting in January, SF Weekly's new food critic and SFoodie blogger -- and gives pretty much anyone who loves finding authentic food in the Bay Area something to look forward to in the New Year. The differences between covering food in the Great Northwest (Kauffman's been writing for Seattle Weekly since 2006) and covering food in S.F.? Kauffman: "The way San Franciscans eat is very broad, and there are a lot of San Franciscos as well. There are a lot of neighborhoods and cuisines that don't get covered enough in media." Read the As to all of Martin's Qs here. And prepare yourself for a 2010 spent wallowing in food that doesn't somehow involve a pizza crust, and isn't served up within an olive pit's expectoration of Valencia Street.

The Metreon's Island Earth Farmer's Market (101 Fourth St. at Mission) is suddenly feeling rather chilly, and it has nothing to do with the cold front. At an abatement hearing, the Health Department has determined that the market's permit to sell food cooked on site has expired, meaning that only vendors of produce and pre-made, non-perishable foods are allowed to operate.

Kevin Y./Yelp

The Health Department has 86ed sales of potentially hazardous foods.

​Richard Lee, director of environmental health regulatory programs for the S.F. Department of Public Health, told SFoodie Island Earth was operating under a special events permit -- the same one that food vendors at street fairs have -- which is temporary. Though the market had a 90-day permit, Lee determined that the four or five vendors who sold potentially hazardous foods were only permitted to operate for 25 of those 90 days.

"The booths at the Metreon were not designed to be open daily for a long period of time," Lee said. Island Earth vendors have been operating seven days a week practically since the market opened last May. The city requires individual vendors to have their own permits, but the sponsor -- Island Earth management -- has to have a valid special events permit. Lee said that under that agreement, management is not allowed to renew for another permit that would allow cooked food vendors to operate for another 25 days. Essentially, the vendors themselves are cooked.

Donncha@ In Photos.org/Flickr

Break out the Cantonese seafood.

​SF Weekly has a new staff food writer. Former Bay Area food critic Jonathan Kauffman is leaving sister publication Seattle Weekly to become our full-time restaurant critic and SFoodie blogger.

As staff writer for the East Bay Express, Kauffman won a 2006 James Beard Award for newspaper reporting on nutrition or consumer issues. The Association of Food Journalists awarded Kauffman First Place in newspaper restaurant criticism in 2006, and again this year. Kauffman also won a 2009 IACP Bert Greene Award in the Internet category for a Seattle Weekly blog post about one of the nation's first pig slaughter and cooking classes.

"I'm thrilled to be coming back to San Francisco," Kauffman told SFoodie. "Do you know how much I've missed good Cantonese seafood?"

Kauffman began his career in the kitchen, including a two-year stint at now-defunct Socca (currently home to Aziza). He was staff critic at the Express from 2001 to 2006. In Seattle, Kauffman founded Voracious, the first food blog in the Village Voice Media chain.

Expect to see Kauffman's SF Weekly byline in early January.

T. Palmer

Potential buyers can snack on muffins and chai.

​Call it the final chapter in the saga of Murat Celebi-Ariner, the street-food vendor deported to France last week after being picked up for overstaying a visa waiver. Last night, Celebi-Ariner's wife, Pelin, announced a liquidation sale of the couple's belongings at their Mission District apartment this Saturday.

In an e-mail to supporters, she said, "Home is where the heart is. Thus, this home must change hands, along with everything in it." Celebi-Ariner promised complimentary muffins and chai -- Amuse Bouche staples -- and unspecified memorabilia. She told SFoodie she's leaving for France next week on a short-stay visa, but would apply for permanent status once in the country.

As for Murat, Celebi-Ariner said he was okay, but adjusting to life back in France. "He's still kind of dealing with the trauma of what he went through," she said.

Cupkates

Cupkates suspects Berkeley of changing the rules for selling in commercial zones.

​UPDATE: Cyrus Farivar of the California Taco Trucks blog got a comment from chief of staff to Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, who cited the specific ordinance Cupkates violated. Read Farivar's post here.

When Kate McEachern decided to become a mobile street-food vendor in the city of Berkeley, she was determined to do it right. Write a business plan, get all the necessary licenses and permits. She even bought an old taco truck and spent the money to have it customized. McEachern says she submitted a route map to the city, and was instructed by a code enforcement officer she'd be allowed to sell from metered parking spaces.

And while that's exactly how McEachern has been selling her Cupkates cupcakes since August, it all came to a screeching halt Friday, when McEachern says the same code enforcement officer told her she was violating the law. By e-mail, McEachern told us the officer said that "according to a city municipal code‹it is illegal to vend from a metered parking space and that I was to shut down immediately or be issued a $500 citation. I showed him my permits and documentation and referenced our earlier conversation, but he insisted I close."

McEachern said she got conflicting information from two Berkeley city departments Monday: one told her her permit is still valid, the other confirmed that she was, indeed, in violation of the municipal code. Yesterday, the Cupkates vendor was hoping a deputy city manager would meet with her, but that didn't happen, and McEachern said she was escorted out of City Hall by police officers.

The building owner is hoping for a late December opening.

​The owner of a planned food marketplace in Bernal Heights says she's signed leases with five vendors, and is currently searching for a sixth. Debra Resnik told SFoodie the as-yet unnamed market at 331 Cortland (at Bennington) should be open by the end of December, barring unforeseen delays.

The vendors who've signed year-long leases are Della Terra Organic Produce, Bernal Cutlery, Paulie's Pickling, El Porteño Empanadas, and Wholesome Bakery. As Tamara Palmer reported early last month, baked goods vendor Amuse Bouche was supposed to be a tenant, but owner Murat Celebi-Ariner was recently detained (and subsequently deported) for overstaying a visa waiver.

Reznik, who's owned the building for a year, said the idea for the market grew out of both her love for the Ferry Building Marketplace and her volunteer work with micro-business incubator La Cocina. "It's been a dream, ever since Ferry Plaza opened," Reznik said. "I always thought that it would be great to do this on a local level, to include vendors who aren't so affluent, but who'd be able to come in on a grassroots level."

The 1,000-square-foot space will have individual vendor kiosks, but no seating. As for finding a baker to take the place of Amuse Bouche, Reznik said she was happy to have signed Wholesome. "But no one can ever replace Murat," she said. "The energy that he and [his wife] Pelin brought to this project was just amazing."

Gothiron/Flickr

Local commercial Dungeness season opened yesterday.

​For some San Franciscans, today is like Christmas Day, the Fourth of July, and 4/20, all rolled into one. The day the first local Dungeness hits restaurant menus justifies sick calls and leisurely lunches, not to mention the kind of meal splurges you usually reserve for the news that your divorce has become final.

Crab boats chugged out through the Golden Gate yesterday, dropping circular pots as far north as Cape Mendocino. The local commercial season traditionally kicks off Nov. 15 (give or take), and lasts through May, though the quality and quantity of the catch usually drop off in February. Prices begin high, and adjust as demand levels off, especially after mid-December, the start of the Oregon season.

And while we know from last week's launch of the local sport season that 2009-2010 will prove another miserable year for area crabbers, it doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate an authentic local specialty. Behold three places that turn into local temples of S.F's iconic crustacean this time of year.

nchoz/Flickr

Purist's delight: Half a cracked crab at Swan.

​• Swan Oyster Depot 1517 Polk (at Sacramento), 673-1101; closes at 5:30 p.m.
San Franciscans have been gorging on local Dungeness here since 1912. Part fish market, part diner (worn marble counter and 18 bolt-down stools, with a zero reservations policy -- expect lines), Swan is the place to let the purist in you rage. What to order: A half steamed Dungeness and a glass of old-school buttery California Chardonnay. And nothing else. The gratis sourdough and butter are accompaniment enough. Feasting at home? Dungies will set you back $7.95 a pound this year. You'd be crazy to quibble.

Sorry, Bernalites: You'll have to make do with cereal for a few more weeks.

​Turns out Sandbox Bakery (835 Cortland at Gates) has a new target opening date: Dec. 1. As of yesterday, the slate floor and counter were in, but there were no other signs of movement. Ex-Slanted Door pastry chef Mutsumi Takehara, the co-owner, told SFoodie that when Sandbox eventually manages to open, the Bernal café will be open daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. The offerings: breakfast pastries, sandwiches, salads, soups, and desserts.

"The dessert pastries will be very Japanese," Takehara said -- think red bean fillings fused with Western technique. As for the savory foods, Takehara said those would be pan-Asian and fusion-y, too. No formal seating, just a couple of benches outside.

We reported yesterday that Sandbox breakfast pastries are available at The Creamery. Takehara said she's also selling wholesale treats to Ritual (1026 Valencia at 21st St.), Haus (3086 24th St. at Lucky), and Sage Lounge (1601 Howard at 12th St.).

Jardy Santiago

A scene from a previous FMC dinner. Honestly, we have no idea who this guy is.

​Named for the food restaurant workers sit down to during their shifts, the Family Meal Collective is a new underground (i.e., unpermitted) supperclub by a trio of working and would-be food professionals. Far be it from us to suggest you do anything illegal; we're just happening to note that FMC dinners are unrolling in undisclosed locations on consecutive Sundays this month, on Nov. 15 and 22. Organizers call each prix-fixe a "special communal dining experience": five courses served, um, family style. Course names for Sunday's dinner include a Parsnips and Eggs amuse, followed by Breakfast for Supper (slow-cooked chicken hash with roti, hummus, and quail eggs). The cost: $39, with an optional $13 for drink pairings.

As for the mystery hosts of FMC, we've had e-mail exchanges, and can reveal that they're a collaboration trifecta of a real-life restaurant chef, a self-described connoisseur of food and art, and a wannabe mixologist. Beyond that, our lips are sealed.

To request a spot for either dinner, e-mail info@familymealcollective.com

CaliforniaTacoTrucks.com

Curry Up Now: Poaching from established merchants?

​In September, the Peninsula city of Burlingame got a spicy taste of taco-truck Indian food via Curry Up Now. But according to a story in the San Mateo County Times, the truck is leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of some of the city's brick-and-mortar merchants, who think it has no place in Burlingame's affluent downtown and want it gone. The Times' Mike Rosenberg reports that owners Akash and Rana Kapoor are complying with a police request to move the Curry Up Now truck 500 feet every 30 minutes.

"The appearance of the new Curry Up Now food truck in downtown Burlingame ... has irked some restaurateurs and business leaders who pay high rents in the area," Rosenberg writes. "City officials and police, meanwhile, have begun fielding complaints and investigating the legality and rules surrounding lunch trucks, and they may ask the owner to move to an industrial area near the Bay."

The Kapoors argue they're not stealing business away from anybody. Rosenberg reports that Akash Kapoor reckons some 20 to 30 percent of diners come from dozens of miles away -- visitors who are likely to patronize Burlingame's brick and mortar shops. Customers can keep up with Curry Up Now's shifting whereabouts through tweets, some that list its GPS coordinates.

A planned meeting with city officials, business leaders, and the Kapoors might result in Curry Up Now having to move out of downtown. Read an interview with Akash Kapoor from early October on Cyrus Farivar's California Taco Trucks blog.

J. Birdsall

Pastries from Sandbox show polished French technique.

​UPDATE Nov. 13: The new target launch date is Dec. 1, plus read an expanded list of cafe's selling Sandbox morning pastries here.

Sunday is the expected launch date for Sandbox (835 Cortland at Gates), the long-awaited Bernal bakery and sandwich café from ex-Slanted Door pastry chef Mutsumi Takehara and husband Mike Bradford. Can't wait till then? You can get a taste of Takehara's quietly accomplished breakfast pastries at The Creamery (685 Fourth St. at Townsend).

Born in Japan, Takehara trained at La Farine in Oakland before moving on to a brief stint at Chez Panisse and longer gigs at Rubicon and, of course, The Slanted Door. Judging from the croissants and Danish ($2 each) in The Creamery's case, La Farine's traditional aims and polished French technique seem to have exercised a big influence on the pastry chef's style. Though Takehara is expected to play with Asian flavors at Sandbox, don't expect mind-tweaking combinations or into-the-void juxtapositions.

Indeed, Takehara might be S.F.'s anti-Villavelazquez. Her airy croissants exude a kind of phantom butteriness, the blueberry Danish a disciplined focus on sweet-tart fruit. Scones -- like the blackberry one pictured above -- feel a bit looser, more informal. The thing we like best among Sandbox's morning line? The small muffins - especially the bran, with its tender and elastic crumb, and its dark distillation of molasses-y sweetness. Banana's good, too.

The upscale steakhouse is being axed -- er, cleavered.

​The Chronicle's Michael Bauer reported on his blog last night that Acme Chophouse (24 Willie Mays Plaza at AT&T Park) is closing December 31. Rumors have been swirling for at least a year about the upscale steakhouse that emphasizes sustainable sourcing. Managing chef-partner Traci Des Jardins cited the difficulty of filling 330 seats during baseball's off season. Baseball fans (and others) will still be able to get their food and drink on at the AT&T Park anchor restaurant, thanks to a more casual concept that will replace Acme sometime next year. Acme head chef Thom Fox will stay on for the new venture -- earlier, he tweeted to Edible San Francisco that "We will still keep true to all things that we believe. Source, cook & serve good, clean & just food."

probcman02/Flickr

Scene of the bust: Brassica's "dining room."

​Unlicensed street-food vendors aren't the only ones who have to sweat out police raids. Last Friday, S.F.P.D. officers broke up an underground dinner for 20 paying guests at Brassica Supperclub. "The two officers that came made a reservation (which admittedly is not hard to do) and we let them in," Brassica coproprietor Mark told SFoodie via e-mail. "They came in asking for permits, which we admitted we had none. They gave us a verbal warning only and kindly suggested some ways to become a legal operation, all of which were naive. They took our personal info, told us to stop, and left."

A collaboration by two ex-Millennnium employees and someone who currently works at Café Gratitude, Brassica Supperclub offers prix-fixe seasonal vegan menus every other weekend from a home in the Sunset. The first one was in May. On the night of the bust, the menu included roasted acorn squash stuffed with Panang curry and forbidden black rice, and apple cobbler with ice cream and raisin coulis. It was the first police action at Brassica, said Mark, who rejected the suggestion that a complaint form a neighbor prompted Friday's raid. "We don't cause any kind of neighborhood disturbance, nor are our immediate neighbors home very much," he said.

Mark said the police action has definitely cause him and his partners to rethink the business -- the Brassica Web site is currently announcing it's no longer taking reservations. "We are considering our options now," Mark said. "Legitimate restaurants in San Francisco pay exorbitant fees. We are going to lean pretty hard on the business-minded people we know to help point us in the right direction."

lynzH/Flickr

Street-food vendors show support for Murat at an event at 111 Minna Oct. 29.

​Amuse Bouche vendor Murat Celebi-Ariner is being removed from the U.S. tomorrow, according to an e-mail message from his wife, Pelin. The French national -- detained by the Immigration Customs and Enforcement agency since Oct. 28 for overstaying his visa waiver -- is returning to Paris after exhausting any last hope of reversing his removal order. Celebi-Ariner's wife sent this letter to media and supporters late last night:

Dear Friends,
It is now final: Murat will be leaving the country on Thursday, November 12th. Our request for deferred action was denied, and even though we filed our green card application it did not bring about a reversal in ICE's decision to deport him. Murat and I considered delaying the process further to see if he could make his way in front of a judge but decided that the disadvantages (mostly his continuing internment and the suffering it has caused to ourselves and our families) is not worth the gamble. So, I bought his plane ticket today.
As you might imagine we are filled with mixed emotions. It is a shame that Murat is being treated like a criminal and that the life we have built in San Francisco is coming to such an abrupt end. At the same time, we are infinitely glad that he will have his freedom back and that our families, and a whole new life awaits us in France. We are also very thankful for ALL the love and support you have shown us during this difficult time. I will never forget the t-shirts, the good wishes, the many many offers of legal, financial and emotional assistance. I know that once Murat is back in France and reads all of his emails he will have things to say of his own, so I am leaving it at that.
Love and blessings to you all,
Pelin Celebi-Ariner

J. Birdsall

​Coffee might be the least impressive thing about Sohberts, a new café in lobbing distance of AT&T Park. Open exactly one week, the soaring coffee place is part gallery, part hang-out hub. Mostly, though, it's a place that seems designed for just sitting back and admiring the space itself. Owner Bertram Harris owns Spritzers (734 Central at Garden Way) in Alameda (Sohberts takes its name from Harris's kids, Sophie and Bert).

J. Birdsall

​He's also a general contractor with a thing for industrial design and reclaimed materials. The former warehouse space for Tsar Nicoulai Caviar features an enormous door that swings open to connect to a few outdoor tables via a shallow loading dock. There's recycled stone from a house in Marin, and redwood boards Harris salvaged form a demolition in Oakland. "I'm a scavenger," he told SFoodie. The coffee? Espresso drinks from Equator beans. Harris picks up the pastries every morning from Frog Hollow in the Ferry Building (he takes the ferry in from Alameda, and bikes to the café). The current gallery show (from East Bay artist Dickson Schneider) depicts distorted supermodels.

Sohberts Coffee 144 King (at Second St.). Open daily, 7 a.m.-5 p.m.

J. Birdsall

​

Definitely no immunity from lawsuits.

​Uh-oh. After caving to pressure from S. F. City Attorney Dennis Herrera over claims that Cocoa Krispies is packed with disease-fighting pixie dust, maker Kellogg's faces further trouble. Our sister blog The Snitch reports today that a class-action lawsuit filed in Los Angeles is demanding the cereal maker reimburse customers who bought the sugary cereal in the expectation that it's boost their kids' immune systems.

"On behalf of the lead plaintiff Lakshmi Kammula," writes The Snitch, "the suit alleges all Kellogg's claims of the benefits derived from its so-called immunity-boosting and healthful chocolate cereal are bunk." Oh come on. Can't a sugar high make you feel so good you create the condition of disease resistance?

fOtOdOjO/Flickr

​We started out seeking to challenge the current meme that Oakland is the new locus of Bay Area chef talent. (In the East Bay Express, Carolyn Jung even called it America's next great dining destination.) We thought, sure, a handful of chefs are opening second restaurants in O-Town. And despite Commis, could the East Bay city we love for taco trucks and Lao food ever really challenge San Francisco's fine-dining dominance? We turned to Daniel Patterson, Coi chef and owner, Cane Rosso co-chef (with Lauren Kiino), and -- when Bracina (another Kiino partnership) opens in Jack London Square sometime in early 2010 -- a bridge straddler. Patterson lives in Oakland, too.

Our question: Though Oakland might be prime ground for the casual eatery Bracina is planned as, could the city support a place with cooking as finely honed and deeply thought as Coi's? Frankly, we expected Patterson to say no. His actual answer was more nuanced -- and more disturbing for S.F. diners -- than we ever imagined. According to Patterson, city policy decisions like minimum wage and Healthy San Francisco have doomed all but a tiny handful of fine-dining restaurants -- something N.Y. chef David Chang recently seconded. It's depressing: Daniel Patterson, a guy who's arguably San Francisco's most intellectually rigorous chef, thinks the city is annhilitaing the upscale neighborhood restaurant.

Hey, S.F. diners: Get your FasTrak transponders here. Looks like you'll be making more than a few trips to Oakland.

SFoodie: Would you ever open a restaurant like Coi in Oakland?
Patterson: It would be hard to open a restaurant like Coi in San Francisco today. When Coi's gone I would be really surprised to see another one like it.

Because the economics of fine dining don't make sense anymore?
I'm sure Thomas Keller could always make it work here. I have 10 people in the kitchen, about a one-to-two ratio of staff to diners. San Francisco has become a very difficult place to have any restaurant, because of the policies that the Board of Supervisors put in place. They didn't anticipate what would happen with things like the minimum wage increases, with no tip credit. What happens when the minimum wage is $12? Or $15? Product costs keep rising, especially for things like pastured meats and organic vegetables. Rents are still pretty steep. The restaurant model that we all knew no longer exists -- the Supervisors took it and crumpled it into a little ball.

David Chang (right) with Chris Cosentino before last night's discussion at Cafe Du Nord.

​If there's a takeaway lesson from fig-gate, it might be this: Don't drink on stage.

At a 7x7-sponsored panel discussion at Café Du Nord last night, N.Y. chef David Chang took heat for having being what one panelist teasingly called "drunk with Tony" when he dropped his now-famous diss on the city's food chops last month with Anthony Bourdain. Ar at least, that's how it went down here.

Even before he came to town yesterday for five days of appearances to flog his book, Momofuku, Chang addressed the crap storm his comments stirred. Last week, he told us San Franciscans needed to chill out and smoked more weed, even as he hawked the wider point that S.F. chefs aren't alone in a lack of imagination that yields endless iterations on the beet and goat cheese salad.

Maybe that's why Chang seemed content to let his stagemates hog the discussion last night. Incanto's Chris Cosentino and Christopher Kostow of the Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena turned the discussion into a revisit of the N.Y. v. S.F. meme, and a probe of the forces that keep American chefs from being avant-garde. Meanwhile, Momofuku co-author Peter Meehan audibly pondered why in the hell he was even on stage. The moderators were 7x7 editors Sara Deseran and Jessica Battilana.

Starting Nov. 17, street vendor Tacolicious is taking over its restaurant sister Laïola (2031 Chestnut at Fillmore) on a weekly basis. Spokeswoman Kelly Walsh told SFoodie Tacolicious Tuesdays will offer a slightly expanded version of the vendor's Thursday Ferry Plaza menu: four tacos (including a new rock cod specimen), chips, salsa, grilled corn, and a few salads, plus Mexican beers and margaritas from the Laïola bar.

plucchesi/Flickr

Tacolicious is movin' on up.

​Tacolicious tried out the Laïola takeover Oct. 19. But the taco-maker's bust-out doesn't stop there. Monday marked the debut of Tacolicious at Monday Night Snackdown, TV football night at Bloodhound (1145 Folsom at Langton) -- it'll be alternating with Pizza Politana through the end of NFL season. Tacolicious' next Snackdown is Nov. 16. "It was a cool success," Walsh said of the Monday Night Football launch. "Guys just kept coming back for more tacos." We bet.

Kitchen Sisters

The Sisters need a little help.

​NPR's Kitchen Sisters -- radio trailblazers at finding hidden kitchens near and far-- are launching a new project. There's a contest to name it (wild boar dinner with Angelo Garro anyone?) and chance to submit your very own story about girls. And women. Interested? Behold the details, as laid out by the Sisters themselves on their blog:

The Kitchen Sisters are looking for stories and images and videos and writings. We're launching a new multimedia series on NPR this January, a listener collaboration in the tradition of Hidden Kitchens, Lost & Found Sound, and The Sonic Memorial Project. This one's about girls. Girls and the women they become. Stories of coming of age, rituals and rites of passage, secret identities. Of women who crossed a line, broke a trail, changed the tide. Small everyday stories, dramatic life and death stories. Stories from the middle of the city, to the middle of nowhere.
What women should we know about? What girl's story should we tell? The famous, the infamous, the unknown, the untold. Women with public lives. Women with secret lives.
Call our NPR Storyline at 202-408-9576 and tell us your story, or the story of someone we need to chronicle. Or email us at kitchen@kitchensisters.org

As for the contest, if you submit the winning name for the upcoming NPR series, you'll get called out on the Sisters' Web site, score the full line of Kitchen Sisters products and productions, and an invitation to a wild boar dinner with forager Angelo Garro, the guy Michael Pollan made famous in The Omnivore's Dilemma. And the thrill of hearing NPR guy Steve Inskeep pronounce it on air. Over and over again.

Photo via SFist

French national Murat Celebi-Ariner will be deported on the next available flight.

​The attorney for Murat Celebi-Ariner said his client's Deferral of Action request was denied late last night, meaning the street-food vendor will be deported to France. Randall Caudle said he received confirmation a few hours ago from the Immigration Customs and Enforcement agency (ICE) that Celebi-Ariner would be removed to France as soon as a contracted flight becomes available, most likely in the next week or two. Celebi-Ariner -- proprietor of the Amuse Bouche street-food business -- was picked up by ICE agents on Oct. 28 for overstaying his visa waiver.

"They said he can file for legal permanent residence here, but he'd have to do that through the embassy in France," Caudle said. To do that, he said, Celebi-Ariner would have to get a waiver of his removal order, which Caudle suggested is very difficult to do. Most likely, Celebi-Ariner would have to wait five years before requesting a change in his citizenship status to return to the U.S. Celebi-Ariner, 37, married a U.S. citizen in August, two months after his visa waiver expired.

Celebi-Ariner's wife, Pelin, told SFoodie that, despite the news, the couple still plans to file for a green card tomorrow. "We're hoping it will invite them to reconsider their decision," said Pelin Celebi-Ariner, who indicated she's received conflicting advice from various immigration attorneys (Caudle, her own attorney, thinks the green card filing is unlikely to sway ICE). Still, though it's something of a hail Mary pass, Pelin Celebi-Ariner said it was worth a try. "We have nothing else to lose because they've already decided to deport him," she said.

​A few weeks ago, a little bird told us -- shortly before it was executed and plucked -- that Sneaky's, that preeminent courier of underground barbecued ribs and pulled pork, had added chicken to its menu. The next week, we dialed in a whole Rocky Jr. ($17, $9 for a half) that the Sneaky's boys had put through the paces: rub, smoke, whatever mystical backyard alchemy they employ. The chicken might be the best thing on Sneaky's brief, ever-evolving menu. It's spicier than the pulled pork, tender, and salty in all the right spots. It tastes just as fine cold as hot, so micro-waving is absolutely unnecessary. We like the pork that way too -- picked out of the fridge at 3 a.m., when we're tipsy and impatient. Sadly, the chicken was absent last week when we tried to order another. It should be back for this weekend's deliveries. Find out what's up on Twitter.

​The attorney for Murat Celebi-Ariner reported no action today in the case of the Amuse Bouche street-food vendor, who was detained last week for a visa waiver overstay. Sasn Francisco immigration attorney Randall Caudle said his client had been expected to have his case reviewed today, when the assigned Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officer in the case was back at work. Late last week, deportation seemed all but inevitable for the French national. But Caudle speculated that the Deferral of Action Request he filed last Thursday -- combined with a flurry of local media coverage -- probably elevated any decision about Celebi-Ariner's case to what he described as "way above the local level." Caudle said there was no telling when ICE was likely to decide the fate of the street vendor. "It could be today, it could yet be a while," he said.

Caudle also said Celebi-Ariner planned to apply for a green card this afternoon.

Food Snob/Flickr

Ubuntu: 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 of the nation's top chefs. The "No Holds Barred, No Rules" dinners will start sometime in December or January, and feature single-seating family-style dinners that will depart from chef Jeremy Fox's typical style -- even, in some cases, offering meat.

"When we say no holds barred that means we'll be doing some really interesting things determined by the events," Lawrence said. Meaning, the guest chef and what's available at the time will shape the menu. She said Fox would lend a hand at the Tuesday dinners, which are expected to run through the spring, when Ubuntu's gardens will be back in full production. Lawrence said some 95 percent of Ubuntu's produce comes from its gardens.

As for the possibility of flesh, Lawrence -- who's not a vegetarian herself -- said she's more concerned with sustainability than the ethics of meat. Ubuntu (1140 Main at Pearl, Napa) recently snagged its first Michelin star. On Sunday, Fox is appearing with N.Y. chef David Chang at Omnivore Books Don't be surprised if the Momofuku chef takes a future guest turn at one of Ubuntu's Tuesday nights.

Mary Ladd

Then-Circa chef Hopfinger at the SF Chefs. Food. Wine. opening party in August.

​What happens to former Top Chef contestants when the memory of their last elimination challenge has faded into some bitter barstool tale of judges' prejudice and shitty luck? In the case of ex-Circa chef Erik Hopfinger, they eventually hunker down making Benedicts. For the past month or so, the Top Chef Season Four contestant has been masterminding weekend brunch at the AT&T-proximate Nova Bar and Restaurant (555 Second St. at Brannan).

In late September, Hopfinger became a casualty of the ownership change at Circa (2001 Chestnut at Fillmore). His cooking, however, goes on and on, via Nova's brunch menu (served 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat-Sun), tagged "Hoppy's Brunch." It's scrawled with Hopfinger's comfort-food signatures, circa Circa: fruit cobbler French toast, spicy chicken wings, over-the-top mac 'n' cheese, tomato soup with mini grilled cheese. Plan on nothing more taxing than iced tea and salad for the rest of the day because, clearly, you'll leave uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, recent Top Chef ejectee Laurine Wickett is behind the range at Coffee Bar (1890 Bryant at 17th St.) this Saturday, Nov. 7, and next Tuesday, Nov. 10, for a three-course prix fixe ($35, $55 with wine pairings). Check out the menu and seating times here. But act fast, since, well, unlike revenge, Top Chef glory is best served up hot.

Poggio

Fit for a pig: White truffles shaved over Poggio's house-made tajarin pasta.

​Ah, truffles. Seasonal white truffles are now arriving from Alba in the Piemonte region of Italy -- same with black truffles from the Périgord region of France (they're also found in Spain, Italy, and Slovenia) -- and local chefs are celebrating the annual harvest of the gnarly lumps with special dinners and dishes.

Earthy, fragrant truffles are among the most expensive and rewarding of rare ingredients. The hard-to-find fungal tubers often grow at the base of trees, to be snuffed out by truffle-hunting pigs and dogs. Pungent in a way that's frankly sexy, they enhance everything from scrambled eggs to more complicated preparations.

• At Americano in the Hotel Vitale (8 Mission at the Embarcadero), executive chef Paul Arenstam references the annual Fiera del Tartufo Bianco d'Alba with his own White Truffle Week, Nov. 2-6. Truffles will be featured all day long, on all of Americano's menus (even room service), simple preparations that allow the aromatic truffles to shine. They include breakfast eggs with shaved truffles (served all day); risotto al tartufo bianco; pizza bianco con tartufo; and buttered fettuccine with truffles. All dishes are $45, and include five grams of white truffle shaved at table.

Meredith Brody

Sign of support at last night's street-food party at 111 Minna Gallery.

​The immigration attorney for Murat Celebi-Ariner told SFoodie the street-food vendor's detention and likely deportation might mark the beginning locally of a new initiative by the Immigration Customs and Enforcement agency (ICE) to crack down on visa waiver overstays.

Randall Caudle said it's highly unusual for ICE agents to seek out visitors with expired visa waivers. "I've never seen anything like this before," Caudle said. "Especially in a case like, this, with someone who doesn't have any criminal issues. Usually they target people who have criminal issues, gang ties, or just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Caudle suggested the ICE action might be the result of changes in Washington. "The Obama administration has told them not to do worksite raids -- it's an easy target to do visa waiver overstays. All they have to do is search the database and cross-reference it with customs data."

The attorney also seemed to suggest that Celebi-Ariner's chances of avoiding deportation are slim. Yesterday, he filed a Deferral of Action request, claiming that, since the Amuse Bouche street-food vendor -- a French national -- married a U.S. citizen in August, two months after his visa waiver expired, he should be allowed to stay and file for Adjustment of Status. "I think it would have been a 100 percent certainty, had we not filed -- they could have put him on a plane yesterday." Still, Caudle said, the fact that ICE has delayed deporting Celebi-Ariner, claiming that the officer in charge is out of town, seemed unusual, and held out hope that the Deferral of Action request would prove successful.