San Francisco Food Blog

​As anyone who watched the Super Bowl knows, Denny's is offering free Grand Slam breakfasts today from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. We thought it made sense to revisit John Stuart Mill's concept of opportunity cost -- use this handy chart to figure out whether Denny's "free" is actually worth your while.

Read more in "Denny's Complimentary Grand Slam Only 'Free' To Those Who Can't Do Math."


Graphic by Audrey Fukuman. Click to enlarge.

​ We've all been there: You dropped your cupcake on the ground. Did it land icing up, down? Can you just scrape off the icing? How many hours have you lost trying to decide? Here's a time-saving flow chart to help out.

"The 30-Second Rule, A Decision Tree" by Audrey Fukuman and Andy Wright. Click to enlarge.

With New Year's right around the corner, it's time to let your stomach have its last hurrah. It's an organ that stretches for a reason, so why not have a have a fat-tastic time? Here's a list of must-eats before you embark on that new gluten-free master-cleanse ab-roller no-fun New Year's Resolution diet. Our list stops at 10, but feel free to ad your own favorites in the comments section.

10. Ice Cream from Bi-Rite Creamery

Photo via Foodhoe

​Even Mission hipsters put down their fixed-gear bikes (the very object that defines them) to hold onto an ice cream cone from Bi-Rite. The cones' intoxicating flavors can make even the most solemn hipster smile. Try the salted caramel ice cream with toffee, and your smile lines may be permanent in spite of the Botox. 3692 18th St. (at Dolores) http://biritecreamery.com/ 

9. Doughnuts from Bob's

Photo via Wilhelm Y.

​Gotta love Bob's. Though lots of patrons order their doughnuts to go, part of the joy is grabbing a stool at the counter, ordering a glass of milk, and enjoying the Polk Street ambiance. Here's an insider tip (from inside our belly, that is): Simply ask, "What just came out of the oven?", then order 17. It's a fun way to play hot, fresh, sugary sweet roulette with your tongue. 1621 Polk (at Clay)

​We only allow ourselves occasional and furtive peeks at the hefty new Thomas Keller bestseller Ad Hoc at Home because it is the very definition of food porn.

The book is being marketed as Keller's most accessible. This is corroborated by reading the family-style recipes inspired by his Yountville comfort food eatery -- a number of them seem do-able and not that much of a production (and that's coming from someone who isn't particularly fond of recipes in general).

Pick up a copy this Sunday, Dec. 6 at Omnivore Books (3885A Cesar Chavez at Church) and Keller himself will sign it for you, beginning at 3:30 p.m.

You know that moment in Intervention, when the junky realizes he's pretty much boiled his last cotton, and might as well get on the plane with that nice old guy? We figure Saturday's Holiday Chocolate Show in Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason Center just might've been that moment for local chocoholics. More than 30 makers and/or sellers of artisan chocs were there to torture the hardcore and seduce budding cacao freaks. Behold some images of serious chocolate porn from the weekend, then check out photographer Joseph Schell's butterfat-rich slide show. After that, get some help.

Joe Schell

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What hath the Internet wrought? It seems we in the generally tech-savvy S.F. food community are faced with a dilemma. Outgrowths of the bacon meme like Who's Your Daddy bacon potato chips have thoroughly infiltrated our local food stalls. And while we personally love the stuff, it's about time someone took a stand. Might as well be us.

We don't know if this influx is the result of some vast Iowa hog surplus, but it's clear you can get bacon added to ANYTHING in S.F. these days. The "Internet-friendly" meat product has reached overkill to the point where we hear that some blogs have put up an editorial embargo on all things bacon. While we at SFoodie haven't quite reached that level (yet), we do think bacon-flavored peanut brittle is prodding us closer to declaring, "Enough already!"

5. Bacon Pistachio Ice Cream

An occasional offering at Humphry Slocombe, where more discerning meat ice cream connoisseurs can sometimes get a double scoop of foie gras and prosciutto -- owner Jake Godby even hinted recently about a new flavor containing some other variety of salumi, presumably now in beta testing. Need more proof of their Web prowess than baco-philia? Check out the Humphry Slocombe's Twitter feed at @humphreyslocombe.

Bacon Ice-cream via Geekologie.com

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4. Bacon Potato Chips

In the grand tradition of This Is Why You're Fat, Bay Area street-food chip maker aptly named Who's Your Daddy has taken one guilty pleasure, added it to another, and huzzah. Addictive as they are, survey says, have a salad instead.

Meredith Brody

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3. Peanut Brittle

Another meme-inspired Slocombe creation, you can buy a bag at the checkout counter in case you already haven't already ordered it online. Or had a heart attack.

Photo via Sugarbomber.com

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2. Maple Glazed Bacon Apple Doughnut

The good people at Dynamo Donut in S.F. obviously have an Internet connection. They also know their customers. No matter how much we say we're over bacon, we still scoop these up like Free Willy scoops up plankton.

Photo courtesy KimSunee.com

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1. Bacon Bourbon

Take the trip out to BarCeluna in the East Bay, and you can get drunk until another cured meat product makes it big on the Internet. Caffienated beef jerky anyone?

dansays via Flickr

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Follow us on Twitter at @alexiatsotsis and @sfoodie.

The only vegetarian offering: Peach cupcakes with gummy eggs and bacon.

​The usually businesslike lobby of the building on Second Street that houses CBS Interactive (yes, that CBS) looked like the lawn of a suburban elementary school this afternoon. Folding tables strewn with carefully labeled homemade baked goods were set up on the polished floors, not far from the modernish cube-shaped furniture. Behind the tables, a flat-screen TV showed, bizarrely, a rotating slide show of soothing images: kitties, flowers, etc. But the kitties and cube-couches were easily overpowered by the pervasive smell of bacon.

Every year a group of CBS Interactive employees hold a bake-off to raise funds for a nonprofit and to foster friendly competition between co-workers. This year's beneficiary was Habitat for Humanity. And for the first time ever, the bake sale had a theme. Everything up for grabs today was made with either bacon or faux-bacon.

​ Chocolate-bacon cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting. The pig had no comment.
​These maple bacon bites oozed with creamy filling.
​Tiny apple-bacon crumble cakes were selling like, uh, hot cakes.
​ Not all the wares were traditional baked goods. One person brought bacon-caramel apples, while another had whipped up bacon brittle.
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​This baker didn't shy away from the secret ingredient. On these cupcakes, sprigs of fried bacon adorned healthy dollops of frosting .
​There was a little something for everybody. Those who didn't have a sweet tooth could snap up these bacon cheesy poofs.
​What's a bake sale without chocolate chip cookies? Bits of bacon were bursting out of these gooey versions of the childhood favorite.

We've noticed a disturbing trend at our local bakeries. Maybe it's because we're based in San Francisco, but "geeky cakes" seem to be on the rise, specifically ones that involve iPhones.

Major fans of Web sites like Cake Wrecks and Cake Failure; we sifted through so many awful specimens we finally amassed a sizable failed cake collection.

Word to the wise: iPhones are particularly difficult to render, especially in cake format. Here's an example of one done particularly well, from local baker Debbie Does Cakes (yeah we know).

Debbie Does Cakes

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And for those of you that live under a rock, or just use a BlackBerry, this is what an actual iPhone looks like:

Photo via Techdigest

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If you're anything like us you didn't sleep last night or the night before or the night before that. And are right now at this moment lasciviously eyeing your new co-worker's sugar-free Red Bull in the mini-fridge across from your desk, waiting for the right time to pounce.

In a perfect world you could reach for something as accessible as your lip balm and still feel the sweet, sweet rush of the bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid, otherwise known as caffeine.

Well, you may not be asleep right now, but that perfect world is closer than you think, because caffeinated lip balm is a product that actually exists as strange as that may seem. Other unlikely caffeinated contenders:

5. Sunflower seeds

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So you're in the dugout. And it's the bottom of the ninth and zzzzzz ... Not a problem if you've got these bad boys.

4. Cookies

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You're familiar with pot brownies no? Well welcome to caffeinated cookies. Pass them out at your next meeting and laugh as people become more and more, eh hem, alert.

3. The "Wake-Up" Bloody Mary

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We discovered this at our neighborhood brunch place and found out it came from something called the "Pure Genius Caffeinated Bloody Mary Mix." Mixing uppers with downers doesn't sound too genius to us.

2. Lip-balm
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Almost as weird a phenomenon as bacon-flavored lip balm. We're wondering: Is it you looking for the "pick-me-up" or the person you're locking lips with? See also caffeinated breathspray.

1. Water

If you're already drinking coffee like it's water, why not drink water, like it's well, water.​

Go ahead, indulge; sleep is for the weak.

Notes by Tamara Palmer, Photos by Tim Pratt

Radio Africa & Kitchen is a self-proclaimed "nomadic restaurant" from Chef Eskender Aseged hosted by Coffee Bar in Potrero Hill on Thursday and Friday nights. Aseged is self-taught and credits a combination of growing up in Ethiopia, traveling extensively through Africa and Europe (particularly countries along the Mediterranean and Red Sea) and observing the chefs while working as a waiter at San Francisco institutions such as Campton Place and Boulevard as key inspirations for his eclectic, world-wise style. He offers a different menu each week as a DJ spins grooves from the continent. A recent visit there found flavorful and colorful plates, unfussy dishes that made a strong impression.

Notes by Tamara Palmer, Photos by Tim Pratt

I was a bit sad knowing that, with this birthday, I'd technically be leaving the youth demographic behind. But I learned over a slice of cake and Cocoa Krispies ice cream that I could still be a kid in the Candybar.

The dessert/wine/art lounge opened in late March, and has had three different chefs during since then, as reported by EaterSF. That site's coverage has made it clear that Candybar is still defining its identity; the menu, which changes monthly, contained savory as well as sweet items until November's, which omits the savory and lowers the average dessert price to $7. And, quite honestly, Eater doesn't make it necessarily sound like a place worth visiting. But I decided to give it a whirl myself and vote with my own taste buds over blog gossip (which I also like to consume).

It was a great idea. Since my little birthday dessert jamboree there on Sunday night, I've been able to think of little else.

Juzo Itami's 1985 filmic masterpiece Tampopo is a must-see for anyone in love with noodles. "The Perfect Bowl" will combine a screening of this classic with a lesson in making dashi, ramen and a Japanese sweet, a clever idea that will only nourish the affair. Sunday, November 16 at 5 p.m. at Paulding & Company Kitchen, 1410 D 62nd St., Emeryville. Admission is $40 ($75 for two). Call (510) 594-1104 for more info/reservations. —Tamara Palmer

Delicacies of the sea highlight this Octopus and Calamari Salad by Chef Hoss Zaré of Zaré at Fly Trap. There might be just a little bit more preparation than average involved to make his lemon confit dressing for the first time. But the reward is in the flavor, versatile enough to appear on just about any salad you imagineer at home. —Tamara Palmer

World Veg Festival Weekend
San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park
October 5, 2008

Notes and Photos by Tamara Palmer

San Francisco Vegetarian Society and In Defense of Animals took over the San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park for World Veg Festival Weekend. The two-day event brought a plethora of vegan and vegetarian food, fashion and sympathetic causes that added up to the components of a cruelty-free lifestyle.

Vegans have long gotten a bad rap for bad cooking. But the art and the bar has been raised in recent years, and this was a great place to taste that.

By Meredith Brody

Press previews are inherently different from the actual experience of dining, but our first glimpse (and taste) of what Charles Phan (The Slanted Door) and Loretta Keller (Coco 500) have on offer in the new eateries at the California Academy of Sciences, at least in the upstairs Academy Café, came during one such tour of the facility. (We took some pictures of the fancy downstairs Moss Room, but didn't see or sample any of its menu.)

The Academy Café (open daily during museum hours; admission to museum necessary for entry) dishes out its multicultural menu cafeteria-style, at a number of counter stations, including Soup, Sandwiches, Slow-Cooked, Noodles, Sizzle, Taco Man, Bar, Bakery, Steamed, Rolls, and Salad.

(Waiting for fresh French crullers)

On a recent sweet tooth sating at Bob's Donuts on Polk, the lady manning the cashier told us that the best time to drop by on any given evening was 10:30 p.m. - when the batter meets the fryer. Curious to see if this truly was the case (as we'd seen varying times on Yelp), we made our way back to Bob's on Tuesday night, miraculously found curbside parking and wandered in just as the clock was striking 10:29.

And lo and behold, a minute later the batter was mixed before our hungry eyes. Soon a line was forming out the door for the first batch of French crullers - with the option of glazed goodness vs. chocolate or maple frosting. I opted for the maple, which melted upon contact with the fryer-fresh cruller, dripping decadently across the paper plate. My partner waited for the cake donuts (which we're told are usually prepared next), and enjoyed one covered in cinnamon.

See photos of the donut-making process below...

--Janine Kahn

Name: Halu (312 8th Ave.), Inner Richmond.

Style: Japanese yakitori (skewers) and kushi katsu (deep-fried skewers)

Price: Mid-range.

Favorite Dish: Tie between stuffed mushrooms kushi katsu ($4.50) and ramen hiyashi chuka ($7.50).

Follow the jump for the up close and personal ...

Place: Kasa Indian Eatery (4001 18th Street at Noe)

Occasion: Late lunch

Style: Calcutta-style Indian street food, otherwise described as "Indian taqueria."

Price: Lowish, take a gander.

Fancy Factor: Nil.

Rationale: San Francisco's Indian food selection being what it is (read: not so good), Kasa's appearance as a modern, casual, convenient option for Indian grub was greeted with jubilation by many local foodies, and by all appearances first-time restaurateurs Tim Volkema, Suresh Khanna, and Chef Anamika Khanna have delivered: stark, industrial design, efficient counter service, and a simple yet highly focused menu centered around the traditional Indian flatbread known as roti. But the big question remains: does it taste good?

Follow the jump for the up close and personal ...

Place: Nopa (560 Divisadero at Hayes)

Occasion: Dinner

Style: "Urban rustic," Californian, according to their website.

Price: Upper mid, take a gander.

Fancy Factor: Casual but stylish. Work up the initiative to wear a collar or heels and you won't feel out of place.

Rationale: Since Nopa opened in '06 and put its namesake neighborhood on the "gourmet ghetto" map, it's been a standard-bearer for San Francisco foodies. Nopa's legions of fans are hardcore enough to start a spirited argument with detractors, and many local chefs and restaurant industry types regard the place like a kitchen-away-from-home, in part because the kitchen stays open until 1:00 a.m. -- all good signs. As a result, expectations (and drink tabs) run high.

Follow the jump for the up close and personal ...

Place: Bar Bambino Cafe & Wine Bar (2931 16th Street)

Occasion: Sunday dinner

Style: Italian

Price: Upper mid, take a gander.

Fancy Factor: Narrow, lots of dark colors. Very New Yorky. The napkins come rolled and bound with brown leather straps. Think rustic, not kinky.

Rationale: I'd been hearing great things about this place for months, just waiting for the the best opportunity to pounce. Plus, who can resist the charms of that particular stretch of 16th Street between Mission and South Van Ness? The site of several firsts for me: first genuine grade-a pimp'n'hoe-talking-business sighting and first crack-smoking in broad daylight sighting. Bambino held almost as many surprises, but thankfully they were happier, tastier, less illicit ones.

Follow the jump for the up close and personal ...

Place: We Be Sushi (538 Valencia St. between 16th and 17th)

Occasion: Dinner

Style: Japanese/Sushi

Price: Mid-range. Check the menu here.

Rationale: Funny story. The first time I ever had sushi was at We Be Sushi, in 1999, after spending a landlocked, Midwestern youth eating primarily four-legged friends. And while it wasn't love at first sight, it was (I later realized) a fantastic place to gobble my first piece of nigiri: consistently good and not crazy expensive. Definitely one of the best no-frills sushi joints in town. It grows on you, and the kooky catchphrase "Like Mom Used To Make" rings true in some bizarre personal way, however ironic the intention. You can eat there every week, order the same meal, and never notice a difference in quality.

Follow the jump for the up close and personal ...

Place: Turtle Tower Restaurant (631 Larkin)

Occasion: Lunch

Style: Northern Vietnamese

Price: Cheap. Check the menu here.

Rationale: In the ongoing struggle to determine once and for all my favorite Asian cuisine, I constantly vacillate between the hearty, down-home spiciness of Korean and the more fragrant, delicate, and vinegary spiciness of Vietnamese. In the end, I'll probably never really decide, because after all, they're both mind-blowing enough to keep coming back. Still, it can't hurt to keep trying, and while I'm partial to my local Vietnamese kitchen Sunflower (3111 16th Street) in the Mission, I've been hearing from hardcore foodies all over town that Turtle Tower is one of the best places in town to get your Phở on.

Follow the jump for the up close and personal ...

Place: Coi (373 Broadway) -- pronounced "kwa"

Chef: Daniel Patterson

Sommelier/Partner: Paul Einbund

Occasion: Anniversary

Courses: 14, plus extras.

Duration: two-and-a-half hours.

Style: Highly-refined California cuisine.

Wine Pairing: Hell yes.

Price: $250ish a piece. Or priceless. Whichever.

Rationale: Stimulus check, compliments of Dubya. Stimulizing the local economy, if you will. Plus, if you take her to Coi for your anniversary, you don't even have to get a card. It's that classy. And I hate picking cards.

Follow the jump for the up close and personal ...

As a huge fan of Korean cuisine in just about all of its myriad forms, I've been excited to check out the fiery, upscale Korean-Japanese hybrid creations dished out of the family-owned kitchen at Namu (439 Balboa at 6th Ave.) in the Inner Richmond, not least of all because I was curious to see how Korean food would play out in the more rarified air of 'fusion' so common these days to Japanese and Chinese cuisine. Can kimchee manage the jump from down-home staple to shi-shi accompaniment?

Follow the jump for the up close and personal ...

The Mission's newest nod to upscale gastro-pubbiness, Monk's Kettle (3141 16th St) has provided a welcomed (to some) dash of sophistication to that crazy stretch of 16th Street between Guerrero and South Van Ness often referred to as the heart of the Mission. They certainly know their beer at Monk's Kettle. Pictured above is my personal favorite of the five or so draft brews I tried: Honey Bunny Blonde Ale out of Iron Springs Brewey. But do the hoity-toity munchies hold up as well as the beer?

Everybody has their own favorite Vietnamese joint. Mine happens to be Sunflower Restaurant (3111 16th Street) in the Mission, partially because it's within walking distance and cheapish and partially because it's damn tasty. So what's their secret? As regulars know, most if not all of Sunflower's food is great, but there's one particular dish that's so consistently mouthwatering that it cannot be denied its rightful place in the pantheon of San Francisco's greatest hits: behold the Vietnamese Crepe (Banh Xeo).

Follow the jump for the up close and personal ...

Korean barbecue is a many splendored thing -- there's a lot to see and taste during any given meal -- and while much has been made about the lack of really great Korean BBQ in San Francisco (as opposed to our neighbors across the bay and beyond), there are a handful very good places to get your grill on -- most of them concentrated in the Richmond District. Perhaps the most popular of these are the duo known as Brother's Restaurant (4128 Geary) and Brother's Restaurant II (4014 Geary).

Aside from the food itself, there are two primary perks of the Brothers restaurants: First, they're open until 2:00 a.m., an ungodly and almost unheard of hour to be serving food in San Francisco -- perfect for bartime noshing. Second: unlike many Korean BBQ places who've upgraded to in-table gas grills, the Brother's franchise still do it the old-fashioned way with genuine red-hot coals. Dangerous and tasty! So without further ado, let the food porn begin ...