Coming soon to a restaurant near you

​We reported last month that the much-heralded return of a market for fresh herring to San Francisco was off to a slow start. Last year, the California Department of Fish and Game changed its regulations to allow herring meat to be sold locally. Previously, the fish was caught commercially so its roe could be sold in Japan.

Well, it appears the waiting is over. After a month in which it was difficult to track down sufficient quantities of fish, a sizable amount of herring was landed last night, said Tom Worthington of Monterey Fish Market.

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fresh herring

​Ever wonder where the many tons of fish landed by San Francisco Bay's commercial herring fleet throughout the winter go?

There's a growing market for local and sustainable seafood, but the bay's herring -- an inexpensive fish that lends itself to a variety of preparations -- doesn't end up at the wholesalers that line the piers along Fisherman's Wharf. Instead, the fish are processed for their roe, which is consumed as a delicacy in Japan.

That's about to change. Over the summer, local herring fisherman Ernie Koepf was instrumental in getting California Department of Fish and Game regulations revised to allow for a market from November through March for fresh herring. (The prior regulations, geared to the roe fishery, allowed only a token quota: fresh herring could be landed for only two weeks early in the season, before the fish are abundant.) The department will issue up to 10 permits, each allowing a boat to land up to 1,000 pounds of herring per day for the fresh-fish market.

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Fruit trees near the SF Weekly offices

​There's nothing quite as refreshing as fresh fruit on a summer day, but sometimes the supermarket is too far to justify a trip just for some fresh plums. So what do you do?

Try walking around the block. There are more than 5,000 fruit trees on public land in San Francisco, and many of them are ready for harvest right now.

One easy way to find out if your neighborhood has any fruit trees is the S.F.-based Neighborhood Fruit. Founders Kaytea Petro and Oriana Tiell created the site with the hope that it would help local San Franciscans enjoy the abundant local fruit that usually goes to waste.

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The Pacific sand dab: sustainable?

​Part of today's SF Weekly cover story, "Go Fish," tries to find an answer to that very question. And we take issue with some of what's been purveyed lately as the conventional wisdom on what local fish you should be eating.

In February, San Francisco magazine made a splash with a lengthy story, "The New School of Fish," that examined restaurants' adherence to environmental standards in their choice of fish.

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Inspired by health-food notions, the "locavore" movement, Michael Pollan, or a simple desire to save money, these days lots of people are looking to buy their meat as whole animals, in bulk, and/or direct from the producers. Buying networks and meat CSAs are two approaches:

Marin Sun Farms (Point Reyes Station, CA, 415-663-8997 x203): Following the same community-supported agriculture model used by many local farms, members of Marin Sun's Meat Club CSA pay in advance for monthly assortments of the farm's grass-fed, organic beef, lamb, mutton, goat, pork, veal, chicken, and duck. They offer ten different packages of from 5 to 24 pounds, and the cost varies from $30 to $198 a month, paid 6 or 12 monthes in advance. They say this saves members up to 20% compared with purchasing the same products at their shop or farmers market stands.

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(The wacky bathroom at Four Barrel)

• Free coffee that actually tastes good: Our sister blog reveals a steal of a deal at Four Barrel going on through 4/20 [The Snitch]

• Rising star chefs: The Chron hands out its annual honor to chefs from Aziza, Gitane, Moss Room, Corso and Cafe Majestic [SFGate]

• Ricotta pound cake: Simple to make yet yielding of a tremendously rich flavor [Food Gal]

• Endives: The Trib tributes the great accidental vegetable [Oakland Tribune]

• Pistachio and lemon linguini: A recipe from New York's Bar Stuzzichini is adapted for easy home cooking from the experts at KQED [Bay Area Bites]

• Stuffed artichokes: This simple preparation was shot and styled so beautifully by the Chron (see above) that it practically pops off the page and into your mouth [SFGate]

•Sweet Eats: Fifth graders at a Bay Area elementary school found that the recipes in this dessert cookbook are easy to prepare [Contra Costa Times]

•Scallop girl goes green: 7x7 is hosting an open asparagus recipe contest to be judged by Top Chef alum Jamie Lauren [7x7]

• Peanut butter [SFGate]

• Vegetables with miso butter [Food Gal]

• Perfect pancakes [Inside Bay Area]

•The most disgusting tasting cake [Becks and Posh]

(image via cheese.about.com)

•Homemade cheese [Oakland Tribune]

•Canned tomatoes [SFGate]

•Salted breadsticks [Bay Area Bites]

•Triscuits? [Eater SF]

(Image via Bay Area Bites)

• Pea shoots [Bay Area Bites]

• Salted caramels [Inside Bay Area]

• Mocha pots de creme [Food Gal]

• Pom unwonderful [The Urban Housewife]