Sat Addict

​Cake Walk

Where: Omnivore Books, 3885a Cesar Chavez St. (at Church St.)

When: 4-5 p.m. Saturday, July 9

Cost: Free for bakers; $5 for eaters

Think you've got mad cake-baking skills? Test them out Saturday at Omnivore Books' "Cake Walk" competition.

The contest is open to everyone, free to enter, and has no pre-registration required. Just bake a cake and bring it, along with a knife to cut it. And we do mean Bring It! Omnivore will provide plates, napkins, and forks; the lust for cake will provide eaters.

If you're more of an cake lover than a culinary fighter, no problem: Pay $5 at the door and you will be a registered cake voter. You can sample all the cakes -- good luck, when Omnivore held a cookie contest 65 people entered -- and vote for your favorite.


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​San Francisco Bacon Takedown

Where: Thirsty Bear Brewing Company, 661 Howard (at Third St.), 974-0905

When: Sun., July 10, noon

Cost: $15

The rundown: We're squeamish about this bacon cooking slam, but not because we don't love bacon. In the wake of last week's publication of Mother Jones' takedown of the Hormel factory, it's disturbing to see how prominently "15 pounds of Hormel bacon!" was advertised. As our own Laura Hooper Beck succinctly put it, "Hormel is the devil."

All Bay Area, enlightened-foodie reservations aside, Takedowns of the past appear to have been raucous fun, and sometimes involved tofu. We're guessing the New York-based organizers just didn't gauge the fervency of our food politics (they also make a lame Frisco joke here). Presumably they mean well.

So if you believe flavor trumps conscience, by all means join the party. Or just wait until next time, when they return for a locally sourced, Biodynamic Heirloom Tomato Takedown.

Buy tickets at Brown Paper Tickets or e-mail chilitakedown@gmail.com to enter the competition.

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Barbecue from Gator's Back Porch.

​The SF BBQ Rib Throwdown

Where: Coffee Bar, 1890 Bryant (at Mariposa), 551-8100

When: Sunday, July 3, 4-7:30 p.m.

Cost: $20

The rundown: It's the 4th of July weekend, when many a young one's fancy turns to thoughts of meat and beer. This Sunday you can skip your buddy's private BBQ with the overcooked meat pucks and Natty Light in favor of a rib throwdown featuring four powerhouse contenders from both sides of the bay. Starting at 4 p.m., Good Foods Catering, Cathead's BBQ, the Jetset Chef, and Gator's Back Porch BBQ will go head-to-head, vying for that sauce-slicked rib crown. Your $20 admission gets you four samples of ribs, four side dishes, one Lagunitas or glass of wine, and a chance to vote. It's practically your patriotic duty.

Flickr/handsongourmet

​Sutton Cellars Chili Cook-Off

Where: Golden Gate Park (exact location revealed after RSVP)

When: Sun., June 26, 2-5 p.m.

Cost: $30

The rundown: Carl Sutton has the right kind of friends. Every year the vermouth impresario stages a chili cookoff in Golden Gate Park, and every year some of the city's finest chefs turn out to strut their stuff. This year, the event's fifth anniversary lineup includes 15 Romolo, Alembic, Comstock Saloon, Hog & Rocks, Magnolia Pub and Brewery, Maverick, Serpentine, and Slow Club, with more possibly to come. For the price of admission, you get to try all the entries, drink some wine, and (most importantly) cast your ballot on the day's top chili. Get your tickets now; this event sells out fast.

Purchase tickets by sending $30 per person via PayPal to winevine@sonic.net. Your name will be on the list.

Flickr/p3nnylan3

​Cake is the theme of the next informal cooking competition at Omnivore Books in Noe Valley on July 9, and proprietor Celia Sack is calling for contestants. While the mandate is for "inventive" cakes, the sweets will eventually be hacked into tiny pieces for everyone in the house to sample, so flavor revelations will probably ultimately trump visual splendor. Sack doesn't require any advance registration to compete, but we thought serious battlers might appreciate a few weeks' notice to brainstorm. There will be a $5 cover to attend, taste, and judge, and the winner will split the door with Omnivore.

bacontoday.com

Fifteen pounds of this could be yours to help build your ultimate bacon dream.

​New Yorker Matt Timms is ready to give you 15 pounds of Hormel Black Label bacon to fashion into a culinary delight for his Bacon Takedown competition on Sunday, July 10, at Thirsty Bear. Keep in mind, though, that you'll have to compete against chefs like Best Of winner Dontaye Ball of Good Foods Catering, who took home the championship belt at Timms' Lamb Takedown last summer. You'll also need to impress the heck out of judges including this SFoodie writer, so get to brainstorming!

If you prefer to leave the cooking to others and simply want to eat ungodly amounts of bacon, mark the date on the calendar. Bacon Takedown will bring as much bacon as you could possibly eat in one day for an admission price of $15.

Tamara Palmer

Our view from the judges' table.

​We concluded our stint judging SF Food Wars' Pie Or Die Part Deux in a decidedly queasy state, but in much better shape than after last year's inaugural battle. Like 2010's contest, there were 20 different entrants, but this year brought an improvement in overall quality. It surely can't be easy to bake perfect pie for 300 people, and this time people were more successful in baking their crusts correctly. Still, there were underdone as well as burnt contestants, which made the leading contenders and eventually the winners clear by the end of our tasting marathon. We were impressed with the variety of pie delivery methods (stick, cone, personal mini pie), the elaborate-as-a-rule displays, and even the teams who came decked out in costume; standouts included puffy, smiley suns and Betty Crocker-styled competitors.

Missy Buchanan

Peace o' Pie took the judges' top prize and the peoples' honorable mention for their shaker lemon pie.

​SF Food Wars will return to the Ferry Building to host its final event for the year in August; stay tuned for further details on theme, date, and when the tickets go on sale; the latter is very important because these contests sell out faster than the quickest selling concert you can imagine. Let's just say it's going to be hot. And for some luscious pie porn from the Pie or Die event, check out Joseph Schell's slideshow.

Carina Ost

The P Mack.

​Aspiring chef? Well, here's your shot at the big time. Get your burger on The Pub at Ghirardelli Square's menu for six months and win a $200 gift certificate. That's free money, people! The Pub, better known for barbecue, tots, and mac 'n' cheese, also serves up quite the burger. When owner Scott Broccoli's wife was pregnant and wanted Mickey D's, he invented a take on the Big Mac and called it the P Mack. Thinking it might appeal to more than the knocked up, he started selling it at the Pub. In Cute Dad News, when his daughter was born, Chef Broccoli added a baby-sized slider version to the menu. Adorable story? Hells yes. Now it's your turn to submit your own original burger. Your recipe must include eight ounces of premium ground beef, be cooked over an open flame, and be served on ciabatta, sesame roll, or sourdough bread. They also ask that you keep the ingredients under $15, so don't go all crazy adding expensive shit like mayonnaise made of gold.

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Ghostshrimp

​Pie or Die ... Part Deux

Where: Ferry Plaza (One Ferry Building, Market at Embarcadero)

When: Sun., June 12, noon-3 p.m.

Cost: $16 (benefits CUESA and SF Food Bank); tickets go on sale at noon on Thu., May 26

The rundown: SF Food Wars returns in June with one of its two remaining battles for the year, a return to last year's successful pie challenge. Organizers have issued a call for competitors. Act fast if you want to have a chance to compete, since the 20 spots are guaranteed to fill up quickly. A boon for prospectives: We hear that last year's winner, Eat the Love blogger/sometime SFoodie contributor Irvin Lin, will be out of town and unable to defend his title.

Ritual Coffee Roasters

Ritual barista Kevin Bohlin, left, and Ben Kaminsky, Director of Quality Control.

​There may be no ticker-tape parade through the FiDi, but Ritual Coffee Roasters just made San Francisco proud at the United States Barista Championship in Houston this weekend. Cutely, the impressive showing coincided with Ritual's sixth anniversary, as barista Kevin Bohlin took home sixth-in-the-nation laurels. He shined bright in a field of 50 competitors, after advancing from the Southwest Regional competition in Hollywood in March.

Bohlin's success rested on his mastery of three categories: espresso, cappuccino, and a "specialty beverage" of his own design. The first two are pretty straightforward, with judging based on the color contrast between crema and espresso, the barista's grinding and tamping skills, and other subtleties that perhaps only the most devoted coffee wonk could discern. But it's the last category where the baristas really set themselves apart.

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