San Francisco Food Blog

By Tamara Palmer

I've been kicking myself every Thursday for the past month for missing the Mission Street Food truck. Between covering the SF Weekly Music Awards and being out of town the following two weeks, I could only salivate at the photos my friend was sending me from her phone each week.

Burrito Justice describes the circumstances (drama) that led them to retire the truck after a few largely successful weeks and take operations indoors to Chinese restaurant Lung Shan. Launched last night, the plan is to include guest chefs each week (and they're accepting proposals), but for the inauguration they stuck with their own menu.

There was a short wait, but nothing like the hour-long lines that greeted the truck. We got in quicker by agreeing to sit at a communal table, which turned out to be the ideal choice anyway, both for the company of strangers and the proximity to the kitchen. British crooner Morrissey and Atlanta rapper T.I. played on the computer speakers, and if you know anything about me as a musical obsessive, you know that put me right in my own unique element right away.

Notes and Photos by Janine Kahn

Last night's celebration at the Galleria Design Center was a sake connoisseur's wet dream. Hundreds of enthusiasts and casual fans (like yours truly) crowded the venue's first two floors, and teetered from one sake cuisine line to the next. Sixteen local restaurants provided decadent bites that nicely complemented the five varieties of sake (Daiginjo A, Daiginjo B, Ginjo, Junmai and Yamahai --descriptions below!) up for tasting.

Click here for a slideshow detailing the drinks and delicacies that made us swoon.

SF Weekly Dish
Under the Dome
Westfield San Francisco Centre
September 25, 2008

Words and Photos by Tamara Palmer

A benefit for San Francisco's Project Open Hand, Dish gathered kindhearted souls together to enjoy a meal reflecting the culinary and ethnic diversity of the city. It was billed as a tasting, but participating restaurants (who came from all over S.F. as well as right there at Westfield) made sure that people would get something far more filling.

Slow Food Rocks
Great Meadow at Fort Mason
August 30-31, 2008
Review by Tamara Palmer; Photos by Missy Buchanan and Tamara Palmer

Better than: Two days without brisk breezes, good tunes and creative culinary delights including Grateful Dead-themed chocolates.

The musical companion to Slow Food Nation provided nourishment for the body as well as the soul, with Saturday's headliners Gnarls Barkley a certain highlight. The deliciously leftfield band, spearheaded by singer/rapper Cee-Lo and production whiz Danger Mouse, have routinely been playing much larger venues. It even sold out the 17,000-seat Hollywood Bowl last month, so catching Gnarls Barkley at the relatively intimate environs of the Great Meadow at Fort Mason was a real treat.

(Click the photo for a drink by drink slideshow)

42BELOW Vodka World Cup
Cafe Du Nord
July 22, 2008
Notes and photos by Crystal Akins

Last night, Cafe Du Nord hosted 42BELOW's vodka world cup where 11 Bay Area bartenders competed for a trip to New Zealand where their drink would compete internationally. After enduring a shattered "42BELOW" ice sculpture, unsanitary tastings and a perverted MC, a shy Joel Baker emerged as last night's winner.

But let's meet the contestants:

Adam L: aka 8-Nap (because he takes eight naps a day when surfing in Indonesia, apparently), concocted a drink he called "The Cure." Pushing six ingredients, this ginger-infused drink gained positive head nods as judges were granted their own drinks and the crowd sipped communally from one cup with their straws. Adam L, who also works at Teatro Zinzanni, dressed accordingly, and was the most verbose out of the bunch. His fans loved him as they chanted his name and yelled about how hot he was.

Joel Baker: was last night's winner as he mixed drinks to Danity Kane's newest hit, "Damaged." His "Pear Sonata" reigned supreme in the hearts of the judges and crowd. Topped with a foamy whipped cream (of some sorts) and grated cinnamon, this pear explosion looked like something straight out of a Martha Stewart magazine. Hailing from San Francisco's Bourbon & Branch bar, Baker will go on to compete in New Zealand. During his photo-op, he awkwardly held his winning certificate, balloons, and of course, a bottle of 42BELOW.

Taste 2008 Food and Art Extravaganza
Root Division, at 3175 17th Street
Notes by Janine Kahn
April 17, 2008

Last night, flanked by fancy food and fancier people, I ate dirt.

OK, maybe drank is the more accurate term, since the nice ladies behind the counter inside the Mission's Root Division studios did swirl it around in a wine glass with some water before handing it over, instructing me to inhale the earthy aroma while chewing on a leaf. Actually tasting the soil wasn't exactly on the regular agenda, mind you, but the woman attending to me confessed she'd tried it, and I was not to be undone.

I felt rabbit-like, unhinged, torn from my true carnivorous nature, and quickly turned to the table handing out salami samples. Instantly, all was right with the world.