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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The Blue Fig is cheerfully quiet on a Sunday morning. About half of the tables are full, with patrons reading books and working on laptops -- never more than two to a party. The intimacy is palpable and begs not to be disturbed. Even the staff move busily behind the counter in a slow, content way that makes you feel at ease. From the work of local artists hanging on the wall to the sound of milk foaming, the Blue Fig has all the makings of a really good coffee shop -- except people are eating thoughtfully prepared brunch entrees instead of day-old croissants.
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Camila McHugh

Batido de Guava

El Nuevo Frutilandia is figuring out what it means to be "nuevo" again, changing ownership after over 30 years on 24th Street. Long ago an ice cream and shake shop, Frutilandia now serves up an array of Puerto Rican and Cuban specialties -- something of a rarity in San Francisco. A slew of seasonal shakes and juices are still on the menu, made from a variety of fresh fruits including Puerto Rican guanabana (kind of apricot-like, and fun to say) and mamey (a nuttier fruit with a denser consistency).


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Albert Law

SFoodie's countdown of our favorite 50 things to eat and drink, 2012 edition ​The lengths to which chefs like Bar Tartine's Nicolaus Balla are going to ensure the authenticity of their creative vision are reaching the poetic. In age when he could order up an entire menu from Sysco, it's a pre-industrial -- even Benjamin-inspired -- act for Balla to culture dozens of types of pickles, cure his own meats and fish, bake his own bread (well, that's courtesy of Bar Tartine owner Chad Robertson), and recycle the bread yeast into beer.

So it goes without saying that the blood sausage Bar Tartine serves is made in-house. It pays homage to the sausages Balla ate in Hungary, the country that most inspires his cooking here. He stuffs the sausage with a forcemeat of pig blood, ground meat and skin, pork fat, buckwheat flour, and brown rice. The fat links, roasted until they sizzle, are meaty rather than custardy, and fervidly spiced. Unlike the blood, which tints the filling a purplish cocoa color, shades its flavor with an underlying richness, perhaps a hint of iron.More >>

Iann Ivy

Taqueria La Alteña's al pastor burrito.

SFoodie's countdown of our favorite 50 things to eat and drink, 2012 edition ​For as many taquerias and taco trucks in San Francisco serve "al pastor" -- shepherd-style pork -- Taqueria La Alteña is one of only a few of them make al pastor the traditional way: on a spit. If you think the vertical spit resembles the ones at Truly Mediterranean and Ali Baba's, that's because it originated as shawerma, introduced by Lebanese immigrants to the state of Puebla in the 1930s. As "tacos al pastor"  spread throughout their adopted country, the meat on the spit became pork, the marinade became thicker and spicier, and pineapple slices appeared on top, their juices basting the meat as it turned.

La Alteña serves its spit-roasted pork in both tacos and burritos. But we are a burrito town, let's admit it; thanks to some copycat chain based in Denver, most of the country knows what a Mission burrito is. And so La Alteña's Mission burrito al pastor is one of the best in the city (and by extension, the galaxy): the meat spiced and fragrant, fatty enough to crisp up around the edges when the cooks give it a final toss on the griddle, its flavor charismatic enough to permeate every bite. The al pastor also rich enough that you don't need to add in cheese or sour cream or guacamole -- one of the few taquerias in town whose chef d'oeuvre is filled just with rice, beans, salsa, and meat.

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Nixchixeggs.com

Nick Rupiper on his Sonoma Valley farm

What: Chickens 101: How To Have City Birds

Where: 18 Reasons

When: Tues., May 8, 7-9 p.m.

Cost: $35

The Rundown: Nick Rupiper has raised chickens in Sonoma Valley for the last six years and will be teaching city dwellers all about his labor of love. Backyard flocks are increasingly common among folks wanting more control over what they eat -- or maybe a different kind of pet.

Learn about San Francisco's rules and regulations on keeping chickens in the city, how to pick the right flock, their basic needs, and how to build a chicken coop. Rupiper is raising 1,800 chickens for meat and eggs on his private farm and has yet to find a good reason not to build a backyard flock.

Buy tickets here.

Sylvie Boland

The Mediterranean kitchen Troya's new Fillmore location debuted last Wednesday, featuring a more sophisticated spin on the traditional Turkish cuisine and decor that owners Berk Kinalilar and Brigitte Cullen are known for.

Initially set to open the day before, the staff had to push things back a bit when the restaurant's tables didn't arrive in time for service. Fully staffed and ready to go, the team got to keep Troya Fillmore's premier dinner all to themselves.

In the end the extra time worked out just fine. "We worked so hard on Tuesday, Wednesday night was just really pleasant," Kinalilar said.

Chef Philip Busacco (Terzo) has taken the wholly traditional menu at Troya's Richmond location, and combined these ideals with modern Northern California fare.

But there's still plenty of tradition. All pasta and bread will be prepared in-house by Turkish baker Behiye Golgeci exactly the way Kinalilar remembers from childhood.

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Lou Bustamante

It's hard not to love weekend brunch. Besides the lazy limbo of the hours it typically runs, it's the only morning meal where cocktails are encouraged and often necessary first aid. The most brunch-worthy is the Bloody Mary, fortifying with savory tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, and celery salt, with an added liquid defibrillator's jolt of horseradish, hot sauce, and distilled liquor. It's delicious with or without a hangover.

You won't find a better version than the Bloody Mary ($8) at Laszlo, a bar which brilliantly combines the casual Mission vibe with attached sister restaurant Foreign Cinema's high quality ingredients. Brunch bartender Jill Webster mixes up exceptional renditions, giving her Bloody Mary a boost with a little balsamic vinegar and crowning each with a tangle of crunchy pickled vegetables from the Foreign Cinema kitchen. These add the perfect flourish without obstructing the enjoyment of the drink--as other "salads in a glass" can. Tangy and perfectly salty, you can practically feel the excess of the previous night slipping away.

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Luis Chong

BBQ chicken sandwich

One-month-old Duc Loi Kitchen seems destined to become the Saigon Sandwiches of the Mission. Last time SFoodie visited this food counter inside Duc Loi Supermarket, we were the last customer of the temporary outpost of Mission Burger back in 2010. More >>