Courtesy of RN74, Bistro Boudin, Waterbar, Dobbs Ferry

Indulge the fantasy of restaurant hopping for Mother's Day.

Like Valentine's Day and Easter before it, Mother's Day can be a particularly annoying holiday for us food blogger worker bees. The endless pap of press releases touting how kind the restaurant industry wants to pretend to be on the holiday -- free roses for the moms! Free champagne tipples for that special lady! -- really starts grating before the end of April. Don't get us started about the prices, either, but suffice it to say there aren't a lot of true deals out there Sundays in May.More >>

Old World Food Truck's Matzah Ball Soup

There are few opportunities for kosher foodies to pig out, but Passover is an exception. The week-long Jewish holiday is here again, and there's an abundance of non-pig options for followers of the faith and dairy-detesting vegans to celebrate. 

Here's a list of prescribed menus on SFoodie's Passover checklist: 

Old World Food Truck Popup at La Victoria Bakery & Cafe, 2937 24th Street: Along with the traditional dishes, this Passover popup is dishing out a lamb roast with fresh veggies. Its flourless dessert options include a meringue served with berries and named for the famous Russian ballet dancer, Pavlova, and a traditional matzah bark. Why a fatty dessert was named after a skinny woman-- no one knows. Reservations available on April 6 and April 7, buy tickets ($45 per guest) on Eventbrite.

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mare d./Yelp

​What: Local Mission Eatery's 2nd Birthday Irish Dinner

Where: Local: Mission Eatery, 3111 24th Street (at Folsom)

When: Saturday, March 17, 5:30 to 10:30 p.m.; walk-ins only

Cost: $12 per plate, $2 per beer-- no guilt required, Mission Eatery is 100 percent local

The Rundown: St. Patrick's day has a new tradition: dinner at Mission Eatery. It started two years ago when Mission Eatery first opened its doors. Now, we return annually for its hefty plate of all-natural brisket, handmade potatoes, and cabbage, sourced, like everything at Local Eatery, from area farms, ranches, cheesemakers, winemakers, brewers, and their families.

.The 24th Street restaurant has been so successful, it has plans to open a cafe and market this spring and summer.

Head to Mission Eatery's birthday party and ask about plans for its cafe, Local Corner, when you're there. You'll have to depend on the luck o' the Irish for a seat because reservations are not available. But don't stress, unlike any other sit-down night at Mission Eatery, employees are taking orders at the register and bringing out your plate. Order a dish and squat on the sidewalk if you'd like. Just watch out for leprechauns scheming to steal your plate of homemade Irish goodness.

Follow us on Twitter: @sfoodie, and like us on Facebook. Follow me @eringobro.

About as close to a living dragon as you can find.

​Today begins 10 days of gluttony in San Francisco, as families, family associations, and businesses gather to celebrate Lunar New Year. Given that it's the year of the dragon, lobster (whose Chinese name translates literally as "dragon shrimp") will probably be on most menus, as will steamed fish, noodles, hair moss, and other symbolic foods (Time Out New York just published a handy guide to new year's dishes).

In the Year of the Rabbit and the Year of the Tiger, SFoodie scoured the city, picking up new year's banquet menus to translate. We didn't do the same this year, but many of these past menus remain essentially the same. Feel free to print them out and take them to the restaurant, using them as a translation guide to help you navigate the current menu:

Bund Shanghai
Chung King
Empero Taste
Great Eastern
Hakka Restaurant
Imperial Palace
Lichee Garden
New Hing Lung
New Woey Loy Goey
S&T Hong Kong Lounge

Lou Bustamante

Holiday happiness in the 40 Days cocktail at Wo Hing

​With plenty of innovative takes on spiced winter flavors, traditional classics, and celebrations of local seasonal produce, San Francisco bars have the winter cocktails to help you make the most out of what's left of the holidays. Here's some suggestions:

Eggnog is the most familiar and classic of winter drinks, but conventional doesn't have to mean heavy or boring. The Moss Room is serving the Puerto Rican variation made with coconut cream and coconut milk called a Coquito (which translates from Spanish to "little coconut"), based on general manager Rafael Jimenez Rivera's grandfather's recipe. Rickhouse, meanwhile, takes a trip to Mexico with the Feliz Navinog ($10, reposado tequila, horchata, agave, egg white, bitters) that keeps the thick texture, but takes away the heaviness of the drink.

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Flour + Water

​What: Fancy Christmas Eve dinner of fanciness

Where: Flour + Water

When: Saturday, Dec. 24, 6 to 9:30 p.m.

Cost: $265

The rundown: From SF Weekly's 7-Day Dish (subscribe!), we get word of a Christmas Eve dinner for big spenders. Wiz kid chef Thomas McNaughton is planning a cha-CHING$$$ Feast of Seven Fishes, with wine pairings and gratuity included. If you have several benjamins trying to escape your pockets, perhaps you'd like to set them free? Fly, little c-notes, fly!

As Flour + Water says, "The Feast of Seven Fishes is an Italian Christmas Eve tradition that focuses around courses of luxurious seafood dishes and a gathering of family and friends. This Sicilian tradition, celebrated around the world, was historically served after a 24-hour fasting period followed by a meatless Christmas Eve feast." All right!

Buy tickets here.

Whether you're Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Shinto, Shaman, anti-consumerist, or Mr. Grinch, you could be one of the millions who don't leave cookies out for an old fat man who illegally enters your home via fireplace-shimmying. And that's okay!

Because here in America, we're known for our tolerance and acceptance of people who don't share our creepy values. That's a total lie, of course, but if you must escape Christmas madness (Communist!), there are a few places where you can seek shelter from the tyranny of Jingle Bells.

5. Chinese food!
It's so standard that it might actually be part of the Collective American Christmas Experience at this point. If you don't have the image of the family from A Christmas Story being greeted by Peking duck with its head still on ingrained in your mind, you must not own a TV, as that shit plays approximately 10 million times on TNT over the holidays. It's half the reason I'm vegan. Anyway, why not go all out and chow down on dim sum? Our picks are Yank Sing if you want to keep your vegetarian relatives happy, or Hong Kong Lounge if you want to get down and dirty.

Yelp/Linda C.

Yank Sing's dim sum.

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4. Halal Restaurants
Who doesn't love a little Naan-N-Curry or Pakwan on Christmas morning? Most Christians! JK, lots of Christians don't celebrate Christmas, and you too can abstain with a gigantic plate of Alu Gobi Masala.

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What: Delicious Hanukkah Foods Class!

Where: Loft in West Oakland (exclusive!)

When: Tues., December 20, 7 p.m.

Cost: $50

The rundown: As any good Jew or shiksa knows, Hanukkah is all about the fried food. Hence, we are all about Hanukkah. Let's take that burning oil and fry up some delicious shiz. Gotta love the holidays! Tonight's class from vegetarian chef Philip Gelb promises to be good 'n' greasy -- students will make potato chips with rosemary salt, latkes and applesauce, donuts, lotus root and sweet potato tempura, and pumpkin pakora. No joke, our mouths literally started watering in anticipation. Having tasted Chef Gelb's amazing food before, we're guessing the man makes a mean fried food.

The class is very hands-on, so wear something you don't mind burning after because that smell is a bitch to get out. Let the festivities begin!

If you're interested in attending, just email Philip or call him at 510-393-6096.

What: Latke Truck!

Where: Saul's Deli

When: Fri.-Mon., December 23-26

Cost: Varies

The rundown: Really, all you need to know is that there's gonna be a Latke Truck parked in front of Berkeley's Saul's Deli, and you should probably go. If you're one of those curious-types who needs to know more, according to Eater SF, "The menu for this 'Neverending Latke Party' explores some of the hallmarks of Jewish food: latkes (potato pancakes), kogel mogel (egg nog), sufganiyot (doughnuts), and hot apple cider."

Also, Saul's Deli has a special Hanukkah menu featuring Moroccan and Yemeni specialties from December 21 to 28. Ok, now is that enough? I think so. Eyn davar!

What: Merrymaking & Pot-au-Feu for a Cause

Where: Bar Tartine

When: Mon., December 19

Cost: $50

The rundown: Bar Tartine is going big with an evening that promises holiday merrymaking, pot-au-feu, and enough mulled wine to get Irish Santa drunk. Even better, it's a benefit for the CECSF, a program for children with motor delays. Even better than that, all guests will be given a sweet treat to take home at the end of the evening. And to all a good night!

To make reservations, call 487-1600.