Leland Yee likes all types of soup

​State Sen. Leland Yee, the enigmatic San Francisco politician known for his past brushes with the law and diverse array of stances on major policy issues, positioned himself last year as an opponent of a ban on shark fin soup, the Asian delicacy that depends on grisly fishing methods. That turned out to be a lost cause, as the ban became state law the first day of this year.More >>

Whole Beast Butchery: The Complete Visual Guide to Beef, Lamb, and Pork by Ryan Farr and Brigit Binns, $40 (Chronicle Books)

In the more than two years since Ryan Farr and his wife, Cesalee, founded 4505 Meats, the artisanal butcher has achieved nationwide fame. He has been called a "rock star butcher" by the New York Times and recently appeared on the Martha Stewart Show.

In Whole Beast Butchery, Farr provides step-by-step pictures and instructions for butchering cattle, lambs, and pigs, as well as tips on tools, techniques, meat storage, and master recipes.

In preparation for his talk this Saturday at Omnivore Books, SFoodie had the opportunity to chat with Farr about his experience working on the book.

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​This week's cover feature, "The Beefbreaker," dives into the growing Bay Area scene of artisan butchers who are retrieving the lost art of whole animal butchery in the United States. Sure, there's the leaders in the local scene foodies will already know -- Tia Harrison, Tyler Boetticher,  Ryan Farr, the Butcher's Guild -- but we profile a master butcher you likely have not yet heard of: Oscar Yedra.

While the United States was consolidating its meat industry in the 1960's and 70's and moving beef-breaking away from the corner butcher and into slaughterhouses, Yedra was honing his skills in his father's butcher shop in his native Mexico City.

After immigrating to San Francisco, Yedra became the head butcher on Niman Ranch's Oakland cutting floor for years, and now cuts meat for sustainably raised meat-hero Bill Niman's newest company, B.N. Ranch. He also works the meat counter at Canyon Market in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood.

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From the Local Butcher Shop's Facebook page

​By Katie Fleeman

Many conversations in the foodie world involve the V word: vegetarianism. It comes with a number of arguments: it's more sustainable, it's healthier, and how could you possibly eat another living thing?

The folks over at the Local Butcher Shop would like to challenge that stereotype.

A new addition to North Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto, The Local Butcher Shop is the brainchild of Monica and Aaron Rocchino, two vets of the food industry (Aaron was recently a chef at Chez Panisse). Monica, a chatty woman with blonde ringlets, mans the business end of things while her husband, in his pinstripe apron, handles the butchering. They opened The Local Butcher Shop on the ideals of the Slow Food Movement: supporting local farmers, building community, and maintaining environmentally responsible practices. And they think meat fits in perfectly well with these principles.

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Good Foods Catering

Dontaye Ball's bacon tastes better without the plastic.

​All Bacon Dinner No. 5
When: Sept. 17
Where: Same as it ever was
Cost: $55-$75

Six courses of bacon: does this sound like hog heaven?

If so, you'll want to reserve for Dontaye Ball's fifth edition of his All-Bacon Dinner, which will be held at the same secret San Francisco location (revealed upon reservation) as previous iterations of the meaty pop-up.

Ball has meat cred with us; Good Foods Catering won "Best Roaming Barbecue" in SF Weekly's 2010 Best-Of issue.

Diners can expect an informal yet convivial atmosphere, with communal tables of fellow porcine adventurers and Ball making you feel right at home. His bacon-laden menus are far from just sizzling strips. He showcases the ingredient with different preparations, techniques, and even amounts, so you end up full but don't feel like a pig. He even offers the whole menu to go for five bucks less ($60 to sit down, $75 with wine pairings, $55 to go). More >>

​Viognier restaurant, atop the impressively upscale San Mateo grocery store Draeger's, is moving into meat production, and was kind enough to drop us off a taste of its first product, American Kobe Beef Pastrami.

The idea is fascinating. Pastrami, usually made from beef brisket -- one of the cheapest, toughest cuts on the animal -- gets its flavor from spices and its texture from fat. Wagyu (a more accurate term than Kobe) is a type of cattle prized in Japan and increasingly elsewhere because its meat is slightly sweet and marbled with plenty of tender fat. If fat is good, more fat should be more good, right?

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Maybe these two can help in the lab?

​I saw this article on Swedish scientists synthesizing meat in a lab, and have a bit of a different take on it than my omnivorous colleague Jonathan Kauffman.

Where Kauffman sees grossness, I see opportunity. And a little grossness. But have you SEEN where meat from dead animals comes from? It's far less pleasant than a lab.

While the particular meat the Swedish scientists are synthesizing is not something I'd consider vegetarian (WTF is horse fetal serum? Because, eww) and I don't think I'd eat vat meat even if it were, I absolutely love the idea and very much hope that edible flesh comes out of it.

I don't think vegans and vegetarians would be the main market: I think it would be meat eaters who want an option that doesn't involve the taking of a life. I believe that science can bring to market a product that IS meat, and that people will see as a viable option.

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EPIC Roasthouse

​Is there anything better than bacon?

If your answer is "vegetables," stop here. (Laura Beck's weekly vegan digest is probably more up your alley.) If your answer, though, is "more bacon," contemplate this: an 8-dish meal of roast pork variations, including pulled pork sandwiches, homemade pork sausages, corn with bacon butter, molasses-honey spare pork ribs, maple ice cream with bacon brittle, and pickled pork tongue.

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xdebx//Flickr

French cuts of meat without TSA hassles

​"You know what the funniest thing about Europe is? It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same shit over there that we got here, but it's just ... it's just there it's a little different." -- Vincent Vega, Pulp FictionMore >>

Jason Henry

Ravi Kapur's game plan includes chocolate blood cake.

​On Sunday, June 5, a sold-out crowd of pig enthusiasts descended upon Cochon 555 to enjoy more than 50 dead pig preparations and crown S.F.'s Prince of Pork. Pig-shaped balloons led the way into the Julia Morgan Ballroom, where guests were treated to an interesting juxtaposition of upscale food and casual atmosphere. Case in point: eating David Bazirgan's brain flan with blood espuma and crispy offal while a Notorious B.I.G. mashup blared from the speakers. Gangsta!

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