Photo courtesy of Flickr/Visit Hillsborough

Photo courtesy of Flickr/Visit Hillsborough

Where's the MoveOn.org petition to get county fairs to improve food fare once and for all? Although corn dogs and funnel cakes still give us the warm and fuzzies, we've also trapped ourselves into eating sad fried goods paired with lukewarm, gristly cheesesteak amid the buzzing rides, crowds, and too-cute animals. Until the petition of our summer food dreams comes to fruition, we'll consider getting our homey country grub fix via an outing on Sunday, June 30 to the County Fair Conductive Education Center of San Francisco (CECSF) fundraising shindig at Pizzaiolo in Oakland.

Samin Nosrat is the emcee, and the food is definitely a draw. There will also be bales of hay to play on, as well as cocktails, Kermit Lynch wine, Linden Street Brewery beer, face painting, balloon animals, caramel apples, snow cones, live music, and kid crafts.

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Lou Bustamante

Summer is here, and while in the Bay Area it might not necessarily mean warm weather, it does mean that there will be plenty of festivities to celebrate. From cocktail-inspired gelato to restaurant celebrations and martini contests (making them, not drinking them), there are plenty of ways to kick off the new season.

Gelateria Naia Happy Hour
Where: Gelateria Naia, 520 Columbus (at Stockton), 677-9280
When: Mon. June 17, 7 p.m.
Cost: $10, tickets available online

The rundown: You scream for gelato and sorbet. You love cocktails. You need to be at tonight's Gelateria Naia Happy Hour. Taking inspiration from the bar, the crew at this North Beach spot is featuring over 20 different boozy gelatos (all you can eat) for an easy ten spot. Choose from combinations like Whiskey Shot & Beer (21st Amendment Beer gelato swirled with St George Spirits Single Malt gelato), St. George Spirits Terroir Gin Gimlet, Lagunitas Stout & TCHO Chocolate, Bananas Foster (St. George Spirits Agua Libre Rum). And it wouldn't be a party in San Francisco without Fernet gelato.

See also: Drink of the Week: Enjoying The Rebound Fling at Ice Cream Bar
Drink of the Week: A Smokin' Pair at 15 Romolo
Drink of the Week: Tennessee Margarita at Pican

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Chipotle's Cultivate Festival in Chicago.

On Saturday, Chipotle brings its Cultivate Festival to Golden Gate Park, an event that blends cooking demos from well known chefs, interactive lessons on sustainable food practice and musical acts like Mayer Hawthorne, The Walkmen, and Walk the Moon. Even though it's a major marketing effort for Chipotle, the event seems like it could be worthwhile from a food perspective, considering admission is free and you can walk away from the experience knowing how to properly grow an avocado.

See also: Big Gay Ice Cream Bringing Soft Serve to Cultivate Festival
Taste Testing Chipotle's New Patrn Silver Margarita
Chipotle's New Festival: Free Sets By Mayer Hawthorne and the Walkmen For You to Ignore

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Sunset Magazine

If there's one thing people in Northern California hate to do, it's travel to Southern California, especially Los Angeles, and the parts surrounding it. Over the years, I've learned that putting such pettiness is aside is worth it to gain access to the booming culinary and cocktail scene found in the lower section of California. Of course, for those still reluctant to travel all that way, this weekend offers you a chance to travel a tenth of the distance to experience some of Los Angeles' culinary offerings.

See also: Daytripper Alert: Santa Cruz Wine Tasting This Weekend and Next

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Pause your Netflix cheating ways and take in some live food/art -- Nucky Thompson and all his gun play and illicit hot sex can hold! The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is serving up a too-tempting multimedia free exhibit with the Kitchen Sisters called "The Making Of..." which has 100 artisans making everything from hotrods to kimchi, violins to submerged turntables throughout the museum. Since SFMOMA is shuttering for renovations, "The Making Of..." is something of a til-we-meet-again fiesta.

On Friday May 31, there will be an added spectacle that even has the potential halo effect via "The Making of a Charitable Food Movement" which provides real sustenance for folks that need it. Mission Street Food's Karen Leibowitz says their event is definitely an experiment. Originally she talked to Kitchen Sister Davia Nelson about participating and thought they would do a pop-up restaurant. It was quickly obvious that something bigger made sense. Anthony Myint explains how their personal business philosophy is at play, "We've been involved with restaurants with a charitable agenda. I suspect that if we didn't have a charitable agenda, and lowered prices, people would still be interested."

See also: Art and Food Join Forces at SFMOMA's Collaboration With Hip S.F. Restaurants
Blue Bottle at SFMOMA Rolls Out New Artistic Desserts Ahead of Cookbook

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Courtesy of the Treasure Island Flea Market

Food trucks on Treasure Island's Great Lawn

Our early memories of Bay Area flea markets tend to be dusty: yeah, that $0.15 purple sweat shirt perfectly completed our non-ironic Flashdance look, but getting the goods was usually a hot, crowded and super grimy experience. Enter the Treasure Island Flea Market on the west side of the island --which is celebrating its second birthday on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Pay $3 to enter and fawn all over that 80s gear. Take in chillaxing views of the Bay, island foliage and San Francisco (pretty with fog. Pretty without fog).

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Flickr/scottfeldstein

How about a cup o' joe?

Three of the Bay Area's most recognized coffee roasters are joining the Commonwealth Club in the City to discuss the ABCs (acidity, brewing, and current crops) of the coffee revolution that we're all so high on, as well as many other topics under the proverbial java umbrella.

James Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee, Eileen Hassi of Ritual Coffee Roasters, and Jeremy Tooker of Four Barrel Coffee -- all three owners of their respective brands, will be present -- and Marcia Gagliardi of Tablehopper will moderate the discourse.

See also: Saint Frank: Bringing the Story of Coffee to Russian Hill
Four Reasons to Just Say No to Coffee Pods
Coffee Break: Watch Four Dudes Make Music With An Espresso Machine

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Flickr/John.E.Robertson

The Ferry Plaza Farmers Market was just one of three San Francisco farmers markets when it opened in 1993, according to its website. And now there's a farmers market for every microhood. Celebrate the 20 years of local food contributions of CUESA and the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market this Saturday, where a $20 ticket gets you access to a build-your-own shortcake and mimosa bar.

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Bruno Serralongue

Ben Kinmont, chef Fabien Vallos, and sous-chef Jeremie Gaulin in front of the Chapeau Melon at the private dinner during On becoming something else, 2009;

SFMOMA may be closing for renovations on June 2, but the it's not slacking on its well-established relationship between food and art in the meantime. In honor of the closing of the exhibit Ben Kinmont: Prospectus, the museum is partnering with restaurants like State Bird Provisions, Rich Table, Bar Tartine, Outerlands, Bar Jules, and Camino to create dishes inspired by the exhibit's exploration of artists who moved onto other professions. Dishes will pay tribute to subjects featured by Kinmont, like Lygia Clark, Hans de Vries, Jon Hendricks and Jean Toche, Raivo Puusemp, Laurie Parsons, Gretchen Faust, and Bridget Barnhart, and will be available on restaurant menus through June 12.

See also: Blue Bottle at SFMOMA Rolls Out New Artistic Desserts Ahead of Cookbook

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Anna Roth

These $15 wine pouches were a huge hit at Bottle Rock yesterday.

It seems like a good idea on paper: Throw a music festival in wine country where guests can go wine-tasting and sample some of the region's best restaurants in between musical acts. That was the focus of Bottle Rock, a new festival thrown in a park in downtown Napa that combines stadium-filling rock groups like the Black Keys and the Flaming Lips with high-end restaurants and wineries. "What we're trying to do is a connoisseur's festival -- a rock show for people with a palate," one of the event organizers told SF Weekly music editor Ian S. Port last month. But unlike Outside Lands, a music festival that just happens to have really great food and drinks that you can grab between acts, Bottle Rock seemed to have trouble integrating the two portions, and ended up with without a clear emphasis on either and a crowd that seemed more interested in partying than enjoying the finer points of connoisseurship.

See also: Bottle Rock: The Black Keys and Flaming Lips Can't Break Through Distractions at Napa Valley's New Fest, 5/10/13
Rock the Wine Country: Bottle Rock Festival Is an Odd New Addition to the Bay Area

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