Jonathan Kauffman

Seoul Patch's Korean fried chicken sando.

​Four months after its debut, Seoul Patch, a lunchtime popup operating out of Rocketfish in Potrero Hill, continues to evolve. Chef Eric Ehler's been spinning out his original ideas -- all Korean-American culinary juxtapositions -- into new forms, bulking out the menu with new dishes (brussels sprout chips, ramyeon) and cooking more elaborately in his nighttime activities as co-chef of Reform Club's Sunday dinners at Specchio.

And then there's a dish that started out on Seoul Patch's inaugural menu and just keeps improving: the KFC (Korean fried chicken) sando. Right now, he's stuffing as many chunks of craggy, crunchy fried chicken thighs onto a French roll as he can fit, nestling them into a mayonnaise-rich slaw and brushing a sweet-spicy red sauce onto the bread.

Actually, SFoodie wanted more of that sauce, gochujang (fermented chile paste) spiked with caramelized garlic and ginger, not incendiary so much as savory. Ehler says he's about to tweak the sandwich again, taking the sauce closer to Chinese sweet-and-sour, but until he does, ask him to double the sauce on your sandwich. Nah, triple it. Just as good: the earthy sesame-oil dressing on the salad greens served alongside, which Ehler thickens with ground, toasted sesame seeds.

​SFoodie is calling up food types around the city to ask them about their favorite discovery of the past year, whether it's new or ancient, an ingredient or a person. We'll be running their responses through the end of the year.

When SFoodie originally asked Emily Olson, cofounder of online indie-food marketplace Foodzie (she tweets at @emilyolson), for her favorite discoveries of 2011, she sent us a list of 11. We understand her dilemma. Between us, we were eventually able to whittle 11 down to three:

Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day. "These days, I tend to cook from blogs more than I do books," Olson says. "I love collecting cookbooks, but then they sit there looking pretty. Heidi's book is one of those cookbooks that I keep picking back up. Both the photographs and the recipes give me the confidence that what I make from it will be delicious. What I love about her style of cooking is that I love cooking with whole grains and unprocessed ingredients, but I don't think to use them in the way she does. I'm always learning new things."

Community Grains' polenta. "Just being in the artisan-food space," Olson says, "I had heard about Community Grains [a side project of Oliveto]. When I went to Eat Real Fest this year, I met Oliveto's owner, Bob Klein, who gave me the whole story behind the polenta. The corn variety that they use, floriani, was bred for taste, unlike most of the corn in this country. It was found in someone's yard in Italy, and Anson Mills in South Carolina, who are also selling heirloom grains, brought it to the states. Now they're growing it here in California.

"The way we process grain in this country doesn't allow us to have a connection to our grains," she continues. "Grain from many farms goes into one big batch, mixing the crappy stuff with the good stuff. So there's this movement to figure out how to process grain so you just get the good stuff. I love the mission behind Community Grains, but more importantly, at the end of the day, the polenta is amazing. All you need is salt and butter -- you eat it and think, 'This is what corn tastes like.'"More >>

Benu

Yoon Ha (left).

​SFoodie is calling up food types around the city to ask them about their favorite discovery of the past year, whether it's new or ancient, an ingredient or a person. We'll be running their responses through the end of the year.

Yoon Ha, head sommelier at Benu, astonished SFoodie last year with his precision and flair for the expected in his pairing of wines, beers, and sakes with chef Corey Lee's food. So when we asked Ha about his favorite find of 2011, it was not a total surprise when the sommelier asked if he could share the story of the encounter that made the biggest impression on him.

"A couple of months ago," Ha said, "I had the pleasure of meeting the wine writer Matt Kramer. He's had a regular column in Wine Spectator for many years, and wrote the "Making Sense" series of wines, a sort of "Wine for Dummies" series back in the 1990s. The book of his that really made an impact on me was Making Sense of Burgundy. I came across it some 20 years ago, when I was a complete ignoramus about wine. For someone who didn't know anything about wine, reading a book on burgundy is the last place you should ever start. But I was an English major, and had entertained the idea of writing. So despite the fact that the content was over my head, I loved Kramer's writing."

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Paige Green/Cooking My Way Back Home

Mitchell Rosenthal.

SFoodie is calling up food types around the city to ask them about their favorite discovery of the past year, whether it's new or ancient, an ingredient or a person. We'll be running their responses through the end of the year. ​Mitchell Rosenthal, executive chef and co-owner of the Town Hall-Anchor & Hope family of restaurants, just returned from a national tour promoting his first cookbook, Cooking My Way Back Home. When SFoodie asked Rosenthal how his 2011 was, he replied, "Busy!" What with the new book and Corners Tavern, the restaurant he's preparing to open in Walnut Creek, "busy" seems like an understatement.

Although he doesn't have much time to eat out, Rosenthal says, "the one new place I ate that I thought was great is Roostertail. [Owners] Gerard and Tracy used to work for me at Postrio. I had the roast chicken and the brisket there, and they were good -- really, really good. I'm 51 now, so I watch what I eat, so it was great to see the food was healthy, too." More >>

SFoodie is calling up food types around the city to ask them about their favorite discovery of the past year, whether it's new or ancient, an ingredient or a person. We'll be running their responses through the end of the year.

Chris Beerman with pastry chef Cheryl Burr.

​We talked to Citizen's Band's Chris Beerman and he got downright inspirational on us. Here's what he had to say.

"As a chef and owner of a small interactive restaurant, I think my favorite discovery this year is recognizing the appreciation and common bond that my customers have with eating a meal and having me cook it for them in my restaurant."

He continues, "Going back to the value set of how important sitting down to dinner with friends and family, while eating, drinking, sharing stories, catching up on current, past, and future events in my restaurant has given me a better respect for my customers and how my restaurant makes them feel."

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SFoodie is calling up food types around the city to ask them about their favorite discovery of the past year, whether it's new or ancient, an ingredient or a person. We'll be running their responses through the end of the year.

Jennifer Chen/VegNews

Eric Tucker teaches a cooking class at Millennium.

​Millennium's Eric Tucker sat down with us to explain his 2011 food finds. Oregon white truffles, crab apples, and burnt orange zest? We're drooling already.

When asked about his favorite find of 2011, Tucker says, "There are a couple, but they're not new, more like revisting forgotten friends. First is nori, pureed into a sauce or condiment, served with onigiri. The nori is simmered with mirin, tamari, ginger, a bit of sesame oil, and blended with a little grapeseed oil. It's great! Although, if not prepared correctly, it's reminiscent of a bad head cold!"

What other deliciousness did Tucker rediscover this year?

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SFoodie is calling up food types around the city to ask them about their favorite discovery of the past year, whether it's new or ancient, an ingredient or a person. We'll be running their responses through the end of the year.

Craig Lee/ The Chronicle

Thad Vogler.

​We all know Thad Vogler of Bar Agricole knows how to run a bar, but what does he like to eat? We asked him what his favorite food find of 2011 was and here's what he had to say.

"I've been obsessed with sausages this year."

Oh really, which ones?

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​SFoodie is calling up food types around the city to ask them about their favorite discovery of the past year, whether it's new or ancient, an ingredient or a person. We'll be running their responses over the course of the next 10 days.

​We spoke to Anjan Mitra from Dosa:

"I had to think about this for bit because my favorite dishes often depend on what I'm craving at the moment. I also like to try new things, so I try not to obsess about revisiting any one dish too often.That way I always like to keep myself open to new ingredients and possibilities. I've been on a health kick this year, and we've been trying to make things at Dosa as healthy as possible, wherever and whenever it makes sense!"

But what's his absolute favorite dish?

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Avalanche Cheese Co.

Lamborn Bloomers: Silly name, great cheese.

​SFoodie is calling up food types around the city to ask them about their favorite discovery of the past year, whether it's new or ancient, an ingredient or a person. We'll be running their responses through the end of the year.

By this point in his career, Gordon Edgar, head cheese-buyer at Rainbow Grocery and author of Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge, knows a good cheese when he sees one. "The most exciting thing I found this year," he says, "was Avalanche Cheese Company in Paonia, Colo., which I'd never heard of before 2011."

"They make goat cheeses exclusively," he continues, "and two of their cheeses are the best versions of those types of cheeses that I've tried. One is a traditional, bandaged-wrapped goat cheddar, which not many people have attempted to make. Their version has big flavor, sharp like you'd expect, then really grassy, earthy, and complex. On the other end of the spectrum is their Lamborn Bloomers, an Italian robiola-like cheese normally made with cow's milk. Avalanche's is incredibly oozy -- especially for a goat cheese -- and buttery. "

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​SFoodie is calling up food types around the city to ask them about their favorite discovery of the past year, whether it's new or ancient, an ingredient or a person. We'll be running their responses over the course of the next 10 days.

Jeremy Tooker of Four Barrel shares with us his three favorite finds for the year.

Yelp/Manabu M.

Ramen Dojo's ramen.

​"One food that I sort of rediscovered this year was good ramen," he says.

"I know that ramen is trending right now, and before this year I didn't really understand it. I had a few bowls at some pop-up shops and local places, and didn't fall in love with it, and chalked it up to ramen just not being my thing."

But something happened that changed Tooker's mind about ramen.

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