Photo courtesy of IACP

In Crust We Trust

Thomas Keller watchers, get ready: next weekend, San Francisco will be the home to the International Association of Culinary Professional's (IACP) 35th annual conference that has a regional theme of "Dirt to Digital: Real Food in a Virtual World." Keller, Joyce Goldstein, Bruce Aidells and Andrew Knowlton of Bon Appétit are on the schedule, along with many other food world heavy hitters. IACP is a professional organization for folks of all stripes who work full time with food -- members include chefs, food stylists, TV personalities, cooking school teachers, caterers, scribes & editors, publicists and marketers, along with reps from food producers, suppliers, manufacturers and appliance makers (be on the lookout for swag!)

See also: Pop-Up Planner: The Best Temporary Restaurants, March 29-April 5

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Where: SF Belle, Hornblower Yacht (remains docked), Pier 3 Embarcadero
When: Sat., April 6th, 6 p.m.-9 p.m.
Cost: $120, tickets available online

The Rundown: Perhaps it's a reaction to the Atkins Diet era, a slingshot effect that took our national focus from avoidance of grain products to a fetishistic lust for them. There is a new wave of craft beers, bakeries, and whiskies that wasn't there three or four years ago. While getting into new beers and baked goods doesn't require more of a guide than your taste buds, whisk(e)y with its the orbit of fanatical fans, high price tags, and challenging flavors, can seem a little daunting. But you can take yourself to whisk(e)y school next weekend at Whiskies of the World.

See Also:- Brush Up with Our Whisk(e)y Primer
- Whiskey Cocktail (aka Old Fashioned) at The Slanted Door
- Whiskey Pops: Dessert That Hits You Like Sean Connery

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Lou Bustamante

Our weekly bite explores the city's food trucks, one at a time, highlighting our favorite mobile dishes and snacks.

The Truck: Hapa Ramen and Wise Sons Deli
The Cuisine: Food Truck Mash-up
Specialty Items: Seasonally influenced ramen (Hapa Ramen) and Jewish deli classics (Wise Sons Deli)
Worth the Wait in Line? At peak lunch time, a total 27 minutes from the end of the line to food in hand.

There is something oddly alluring about combining two different dishes into one. Before you roll your eyes too far back, hear me out. What about the turducken? The churpumple? Whether it's simply a mad dream to find a combination that multiplies the flavors into an outrageously delicious combo (without going too far into Flavortown), or because I simply spend too much time thinking about food, I had a plan.

One day while waiting my food at the Hapa Ramen stand, I looked over at their neighbor, Wise Sons and wondered, "Why aren't they doing a crossover dish that combines ramen noodles with fresh pastrami?" Intrigued by the idea, I set off to create my own dish that combined the power of both and I would call it the Wise Bowl.

See also: Making a Cherpumple at Home Proves One Long, Hot Mess
Food Truck Bite of the Week: WhipOut Whips Up Some Tasty Sides
Food Truck Bite of the Week: Hoofing Burgers at Fins on the Hoof

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Photo courtesy of CUESA

The Pome-Iranian cocktail

Where: The Grand Hall at the Ferry Building (2nd Floor)
When: Weds., Jan. 16th, 6 p.m.-8 p.m.
Cost: $50 online via Eventbrite; 21 and over

The Rundown: The Good Food Awards are coming to San Francisco this week and to kick off the excitement and sooth some nerves, CUESA is hosting a cocktail happy hour. Cocktails will be mixed up by the United States Bartenders Guild, with bartenders from local bars like Comstock (Seth Laufman), New Easy (Vita Simone), and Rye (Adrian McCarron) mixing up with the best with local winter citrus. Lenny Gumm and Fatima Wehidy from DOSA will be mixing up an intriguing sounding cocktail with grilled blood orange, and the Burritt Room shakes up a spiced apple and rum drink to warm your boots. In case you're strategizing how thick to bundle up for the event, keep in mind that this one is indoors and bigger than previous events.

See Also:
- SF Beer Week is Coming
- Top Chefs and Restaurants Come Together for Two Charitable Events

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SF Brewers Guild

A shot from last year's event.

We've heard that in the Navy, you can sail the seven seas. As it turns out, however, you don't need to be in uniform to enjoy unlimited samples of local beer on a WWII ship. If you prefer over 60 craft beers and a slew of food trucks to harsh seas and the threat of enemy attack, then Brews on the Bay is right up your galley (sorry, couldn't resist).

All 15 breweries from the SF Brewer's Guild will pour everything from staple brews and cask-conditioned favorites to sour brews and heavier barrel-aged creations. Since the Guild recently expanded to include local favorites such as Almanac Beer Co., Pacific Brewing Laboratory, and Shmaltz Brewing, the festival will offer a wider range of local brews than ever before. Add in views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, and you'll be enjoying the buzz of the high seas in no time. The event also comes mere days before International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so you can squeeze in some last-minute practice. Grab your first mate and peruse the details, below:

Brews on the Bay
Where: S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, Pier 45
When: Saturday, Sept. 15, noon to 5 p.m.
Cost: $50; includes unlimited 8oz pours and access to the historic ship. Tickets here.
What: Over 60 local brews, food truck grub for purchase, and a chance to support the National Liberty Ship Memorial. Bring a camera, and be sure to convince your buddy that he's supposed to dress up like a skipper.

Photo courtesy of CUESA

Yacht Rock: Summer Cocktails of the Farmers Market
Where: CUESA Kitchen at the Ferry Building (north end, near Gott's formerly Taylor's Refresher)
When: Weds., Aug. 29th, 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m.
Cost: $40 online via Eventbrite; 21 and over

The rundown: Summer may be winding down in the Bay Area in date only, but send off the sweetest produce season with some of the best farm-fresh cocktails made by San Francisco's finest bartenders. CUESA and the United States Bartenders' Guild are hosting another edition of their popular Farmer's Market Cocktail Happy Hour on Wednesday with a nautical theme, so expect to see some sailors, skippers, and Gilligans shaking up drinks. Wear your seafaring or maritime best to get a chance to take home the prize for best dressed.

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Photo courtesy of CUESA

A scene from last year's Summer Celebration

With warmer weather finally in the forecast, and a host of Bastille Day celebrations around town, its time to get out of the house, flash that pasty skin, and be merry. Here's our pick's for this week's cocktail and beer focused events around town.

Urban Kitchen SF Happy Hour
Where: Batter Bakery/Square Meals, 2127 Polk (at Broadway)
When: Thurs., July. 12th, 5:30 p.m.
- 7:30 p.m.

The rundown: Urban Kitchen SF, the nonprofit organization that hosts a variety of classes focused on helping city slickers grow and preserve sustainable food, is hosting a happy hour. The featured beverage of the night is the thirst-quenching Magnolia Beer ice cream float ($10) featuring house made ice cream, with proceeds benefiting UKSF. Make a $20 donation and get yourself on a VIP list to get dibs on the popular line up of classes that in the past included beer making, pickling, cheesemaking, and butchery.

Bastille Day at RN74
Where: RN74, 301 Mission (at Beale), 543-7474
When: Fri., July. 13th, 3 p.m.
- 10 p.m.

The rundown: Get your French on early at the Parisian-themed bash with a whole menu of $1 bites like Oysters, French Pastries, Truffle Popcorn, and other specials. The featured drink of the night is the RN74's Champs Elysées ($7, Cognac, housemade lemon marmalade, lemon, green chartreuse, angostoura bitters, pink peppercorn), which you can buy at the bar or even better, get for free for wearing enough French flair to look Parisian. No, you aren't having absinthe-fueled hallucinations again, the acrobats, contortionists, and an accordion player are real!

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Lou Bustamante

The era of pork in desserts has been slowly fading--and for good reason. We've seen bacon in chocolate bars and fast food sundaes, [insert any pork product here] ice cream, and pork belly everything, usually having more shock than gastronomic value.

Joining the small canon of producers whose products actually work because of the porky enhancements (not despite them) like Humphry Slocombe, Dynamo Donuts, and Fat Face is 4505 Meats with their new chicharrones fortified Cereal Bar ($4).

The bar is texturally dense and crispy, the chicharrones keeping their crunch, all mortared together with the puffed rice and marshmallow. The dusting of spice and salt on the pork skin contrasts wonderfully with the sweetness of the bar, providing relief to the sugariness that normally overwhelms us halfway through. Don't expect light: each bar contains the equivalent of a bag and a half of the 4505 chicharrones.

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Lou Bustamante

When you've been to enough bars and had enough cocktails, you learn to glean information from the contents of a drink. Tease through the evidence in the ingredients like a CSI (Cocktail Special Investigation) member and you can find the (figurative) fingerprints of the maker -- or fascinating motives and backstories.

Sit at the bar at La Mar and order up a Vamos Pa' Chicha ($12, pisco quebranta, chicha morada, orange-passion fruit reduction, lemon, cane sugar) from bar manager Joselino Solis, and you'll find Peruvian influences: a pisco from the quebranta grape and a special unfermented and sweetened blue corn drink called chicha, texturally similar to the Mexican horchata. In the ingredient lineup, it was the passion fruit that stood out -- as out of place.

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Photo courtesy of CUESA

Cocktails al fresco by the bay

Memorial Day is right around the corner, but why wait to start celebrating? Here are a couple of events to ease you into the unofficial start of summer.

Great Divide Brewing Dinner
Where: The Monk's Kettle, 3141 16th St. (at Albion), 865-9523
When: Mon., May. 21st, 6 p.m.
Cost: $95. For reservations please email nat@monkskettle.com

The rundown: Tonight Chef Adam Dulye is teaming up with Denver, Colorado brewery Great Divide to serve up a five-course dinner paired with six beers from the brewry. With more than a few beers not normally available in the Bay Area, look for sudsy treats like Hades-Belgian Style Golden, Colette Farmhouse Ale, Hoss Rye Lager, 18th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA, Yeti Imperial Stout, and Titan India Pale Ale. On the food side, chef Dulye is cooking up some impressive sounding dishes, including roast and confit of game hen with fresh shell bean cassoulet and cured egg yolk, oyster shell hot smoked local salmon with asparagus, black truffle and potato gratin, and hop sugared pretzel donuts, white chocolate, candied orange preserve. Full menu available here.

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