Lou Bustamante

Peach Blanket Barbecue

While cigarette smoke at bars may be out, smoke in cocktails continues to fill in the void left by the ban. It's almost as if the allurement between liquor and smoke is too intrinsic to divide apart.

At 15 Romolo, two cocktails shine as balanced examples of how smoke can add interesting depth to a drink without tasting like an ashtray or barbeque pit. Bar manager Jared Anderson's Socialites And Cigarettes ($10, rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, Benedictine, Angostura bitters, lapsang souchong tea tincture) is an elegant twist on a Vieux Carré. Dropping the Cognac for a full measure of rye whiskey and the blush of Peychuds bitters for the smoky tea tincture makes the drink a little darker, with smoke present, but not overwhelming it. It's like a rebellious socialite holding a lit Merit Ultra Light, all seductive and dangerous.

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Iann Ivy

Liguria Bakery's pizza focaccia.

SFoodie's countdown of our favorite 50 things to eat and drink, 2012 edition ​Everyone in San Francisco, it seems, has his or her favorite kind of focaccia from Liguria Bakery. Some will defend to their death the honor of the rectangles dimpled with green onions, others the loaves thickly speckled with rosemary leaves. The plain focaccia toasts up into a great sandwich bread. The olive is ridiculous topped with summer's freshest tomatoes and slices of fresh mozzarella. But SFoodie likes best to snack on what the bakery calls "pizza focaccia."

Baked in an ancient brick oven by the Soracco family, who have owned Liguria for 101 years, the focaccia is deftly sliced and wrapped in white butcher paper and tied with twine. But when you unwrap the bread, that's when things get messy. Slathered in a thick tomato sauce and freckled with green onions that have wilted in the heat, the bread has a Midas-like ability to turn everything that touches it crimson. Your fingers. Your lips. The napkins you quickly run out of, and then your shirt. Stains be damned, it's impossible to stop eating it -- the puckered, inch-thick bread is so puffy, so soft, the richness of the olive oil in the dough cut with the tangy tomato and the occasional bite of onion. Liguria's other focaccias you bring to parties to impress your host. The pizza focaccia, you eat for yourself.

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Where: Campanula, 701 Union Street (at Powell Street), San Francisco

When: May 6th and May 13th from 9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Cost: Entrees range from $10-$15

The rundown: Tryg Siverson and Vanessa Phillips, the husband and wife team behind Feel Good Foods and Farm Girl Foods, are hosting two pop-up brunch events, catering to San Francisco's gluten-free community.

Prior to moving their company to San Francisco, Tryg and Vanessa were responsible for the gluten-free comfort food at Friedman's Lunch in Manhattan.

RSVP: farmgirlfoods@gmail.com

Lara Hata

The wall of photos at the rebuilt Original Joe's.

John Duggan, who owns Original Joe's with his sister Elena, are the grandchildren of the 75-year-old restaurant's founder, Ante (Tony) Rodin. The Duggans managed a feat practically unheard of in the restaurant business. After Original Joe's original Taylor Street location suffered a major fire in 2007, it was closed for almost five years -- and then reopened in a different neighborhood, to immediate success. In preparation for my restaurant review of Original Joe's, published this week, I spoke to John.

SFoodie: How did you decide to move the restaurant rather than reopen the Taylor Street location?

There was a division among the family. I was thinking about the move while the building was burning, but my mom was intent on staying at the original location. It was two years after the fire before we committed to leave. Insurance issues, and everything that goes with that, held us up from deciding anything for a while.

How did you decide on North Beach?

After 70 years on Taylor Street, I thought it was important to go to a neighborhood with a lot of character and connection to San Francisco history. North Beach has the city aspect and the Italian aspect. It's a dynamic area, and it was only a matter of time before it was turning around. I wanted to be there for the transformation and not come afterward.

Tony's [Pizza Napoletana] gave me the confidence to do what I did. I saw the volume of people walking into his restaurant every day, and knew that they would come to North Beach.

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Lara Hata

The main dining room at Original Joe's.

The food scene in this city moves so fast that restaurants more than five years old seem ancient and, three months after they've closed, are mostly forgotten. But the 75-year-old Original Joe's -- the subject of this week's full-length restaurant review in the Weekly -- was closed for five years after a fire shuttered its Taylor Street location, then opened in another part of town, and has been crammed since it reopened. San Francisco foodistas may have short memories, but native San Franciscans, who make up the bulk of Original Joe's fan base, do not.

In terms of the restaurant's looks and its welcome, John and Elena Duggan, grandchildren of founder Ante Rodin, have done a marvelous job interpreting their grandfather's restaurant in its new space. The food? Well, the Italian-meets-steakhouse food's certainly fine, quirks left intact but ingredients improved. In the case of a few dishes, it's excellent. 

Alex Hochman

The Calabrese and quince pizza comes with a heat index warning.

Tony Gemignani, owner of his eponymously named pizza temple, dropped by our table last weekend as we were midway through his newest creation, the Calabrese and quince pie. Noticing the sweat on our brows, he told us "I'm going to have the servers warn tables before ordering this." To quote the tween at our table, "No duh!"

It all looks innocent enough. The pie is given a whirl in a 900-degree wood-burning oven leaving the crust charred and chewy like an exemplary naan. Toppings include a thin layer of Monterey pepper jack, seemingly there more for texture than taste, and large chunks of Gemignani's exceptional, coarse house-made Calabrese sausage that's certainly hot but not in a tongue-searing manner.

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Lou Bustamante

Sometimes you can get so swept up in the excitement of visiting the latest spot or discovering a talented new bartender that you forget about the old-school places still making  San Francisco classics. Sitting at the beautiful polished-wood paneled bar at Tosca, which is capped at each end with espresso machines from the 1920's, you might half expect some gumshoe to walk in and interrupt your imbibing with too many questions. With the jukebox crooning everything from ratpack to opera, bartenders in white coats, and cocktails that aren't shy with their strength, it is quickly evident that the look of this 93 year-old spot was the archetype that the new wave of speakeasies aspired to.

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​It's almost impossible to pass Washington Square Park without taking note of Park Tavern, the nascent brasserie-style restaurant from Marlowe team Anna Weinberg and Jennifer Puccio. Raw wooden tables and metal bistro chairs line the sidewalk, occupied by diners sipping craft cocktails and nibbling from small plates of Dungeness crab on sourdough. On a sunny day, there's something downright aspirational about the place -- who doesn't want to be them?  More >>

Lou Bustamante

The McLaren drinks like a nice, sunny patch of grass

Often, a great drink's greatness derives not just from a bartender's cleverness, exacting techniques, or intriguing recipes, but from the full experience of having that cocktail at the bar is terrific.

The "Parks & Recreational Drinking" section at Park Tavern, where four tipples are designed and named after San Francisco parks, features such a drink. Bartender Jeff Lauer's the McLaren ($12, Hendrick's gin, cucumber juice, lemon, ginger beer) stands out as a refreshing tipple with light ginger-heat trace. Named after horticulturist and Scotsman John McLaren (and the South San Francisco park), who was responsible for the development of Golden Gate Park, the drink builds on Scottish Hendrick's Gin, appropriately botanical with cucumber and rose petals.

It may not be the most intricate cocktail on their lists, but the well-made drink is made even better by the friendly bar staff. Besides, sometimes a trip to the park shouldn't require more activity than relaxing on the grass, people-watching.

Park Tavern, 1652 Stockton (at Filbert), 989-7300

timeoutnewyork/Flickr

Not that Fieri.

Billed as the world's largest tomato sauce competition, Boss of the Sauce hits North Beach Sunday. For this third annual Boss event celebrating Italian heritage, restaurants will have their tomato sauce creations judged by both public volunteers and celeb judges. Tasting tickets begin at $20. Pasta from Il Porcellino and Palio d'Asti. Beer from Bira Moretti, with Elizabeth Spencer wines and Café Razzi coffee. It takes place at Saints Peter and Paul Church (666 Filbert at Stockton), from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. (doors open at noon). And who knows, footage from the event just might end up on Food Network. And sure, while the event is organized by FIERI, it has nothing to do with the wispy-haired and man-jewelery-rocking Guy.