San Francisco Food Blog

Hopefully you'll still be able to eat sushi after seeing this.

​This Google ad popped up during a random session of surfing local food blogs. It has managed the nearly impossible feat of putting us off of sushi for a minute, while evoking scenes from numerous bad horror movies from the '80s. And it makes us realize we'd actually be willing to pay more for food that's not quite that fresh.

T. Palmer

Eat your vegetables.

​Shanta Nimbark Sacharoff, co-manager of the Sunset's natural co-op grocery store Other Avenues (3930 Judah at 44th Ave.), is like some kind of vegan sorceress in the kitchen. Her latest trick? She's made beet juice, avocado, and other ingredients (including, okay, raw cacao powder) taste like brownies. OA's new raw and vegan "chocolate mini luv cups no. 9" ($5) are a sweet way to get some of your five-a-day.

We observed the work of New York-based Street Vendor Project firsthand late last year, when director Sean Basinski kindly let SFoodie sit in on a workshop designed to educate prospective entrepreneurs on the difficult and complicated legalities of setting up a street-based business in New York City. Basinski, a lawyer, is a passionate advocate for the more than 10,000, largely immigrant street vendors in the Big Apple; for six months he was even one himself, hawking burritos on the streets of Manhattan. For the past six years, he has further honored the hard work of these people through a street-food festival, the Vendy Awards, which Basinski now hopes to host in other cities across the country.    

Watch Basinski's short video explanation of the goal and then vote for the Vendy Awards (via the Pepsi Refresh Project's "Refresh Everything" contest) to hit the road and head west. The top 10 ideas selected receive $25,000 towards reaching the creative goal.

Tomorrow, from 11 a.m. until a frenzied mass has picked them clean (actual probable time: a few hours), Papalote (1777 Fulton at Masonic) will offer what it likes to call its special "Mexi-Pino" menu, a hybrid of foods inspired by owner Miguel Escobedo, who is Mexican, and his Filipino wife. This time, that means chicken or vegan tofu and Wildwood mushroom adobo burritos and also garlic fried rice burritos.

If you think we were kidding about this recurring event's popularity, check out the above episode of We Eating filmed at the last one.

T. Palmer

Matchy-matchy.

​All cocktails should be as color-coordinated as the Jujubini, which perfectly matches the interior and tables at SOMA's Fang (660 Howard at Third St.), the sexier younger sister of House of Nanking in North Beach. A purée of dates preserved in honey is blended with a lot of cinnamon and vodka for a sophisticated soul-warmer.

If we had even less decorum than we do, we'd ask for a cinnamon stick to suck it up through.

T. Palmer

It's still Eats, but there's new eating inside.

​Richmond District diner Eats reopened last week under the management of the folks behind nearby Burma Superstar. When the takeover was first hinted at late last year by the Richmond District of San Francisco blog, the speculation and easy conclusion was that the breakfast and lunch space would reflect a Pan-Asian influence. The opening menu reflects no such angle, save for the panko used to batter the fried chicken (one of few non-vegetarian items). And sorry, rainbow salad fans, for now it also looks like there's no repetition between Burma (or B Star) and Eats. For now, expect fare such as homemade dried apricot and cranberry scones, buttermilk waffles, salads, rustic scrambles, and open face sandwiches, with menu items priced from $4.50-$12.50. 

Eats 50 Clement at Second Ave., 751-8000, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. daily; cash only (at present)

feralbeagle/Flickr

Charles' Emeryville factory and retail shop is set to close Feb. 15.

​Charles Chocolates owner Chuck Siegel told SFoodie that, provided the gods continue to smile upon him, he'll open his new retail space in San Francisco Centre (845 Market at Fourth St.) this Saturday, Feb. 6. The news will be bittersweet for East Bay fans, as this spells the imminent closure of the 6,700-square-foot candy kitchen and retail store in Emeryville (6529 Hollis at 66th St.), presently set for Feb. 15.

Bryan Haggerty/sffoodwars.com

Suas, Tredgold, and the author deliberate on ultimate doughmination; our carb-heavy judges' table.

​(View our bread porn/slideshow of Yeast Affliction!)

We've barely emerged from the profound carb coma induced by last weekend's SF Food Wars Yeast Affliction!, an artisan bread battle with proceeds donated to the SF Food Bank. Once again, appreciating the profound good fortune we have to be the resident guest judge for each competition, we skipped breakfast and headed to Thirsty Bear to sample 20 different takes on the good kind of yeast.

T. Palmer

For those times when you aren't feeling so Smurfy.

​The serotonin flows a lot more readily after plowing through a Toasted Smurf from Little Skillet (360 Ritch at Brannan). A true sugar bomb, it's a waffle drizzled in blackberry syrup, sprinkled with melty white chocolate chips and blueberries, and topped with whipped cream and torched marshmallows.

Alas, this waffle is not a permanent fixture on the menu ― probably because blueberries aren't always this fat and juicy ― so it's best to call ahead (777-2777) to see if it's being featured.

T. Palmer

Yep, a tomato gave its life for this chocolate.

​There's a lot to recommend at Crepe O Chocolate (75 O'Farrell at Stockton) beyond its lacy-looking namesake, including several varieties of house-made kombucha and sandwiches. But our eye for oddities drew us like a magnet to the house chocolate ($3) chilling nonchalantly on the bottom of the main display case. It's a hockey puck-sized round of dark chocolate studded with sea salt, lavender, pumpkin and flax seeds, cayenne pepper, and sundried tomatoes.

adobohobo.blogspot.com

Boitano chats with Adobo Hobo.

​As we hinted last week, Brian Boitano brought a Food Network crew to Precita Park on Sunday to sample the local street-food scene for an upcoming episode of What Would Brian Boitano Make? He snacked and chatted on camera with PizzaHacker, Magic Curry Kart, Smitten Ice Cream, and Crème Brûlée Cart, and apparently dug the Filipino eats of Adobo Hobo.

Jesse Friedman/Beer & Nosh

Mission Street Food proprietor Anthony Myint

​Though it only operated two nights a week (and sometimes not even that), Mission Street Food donated over $22,000 to charities that feed the hungry in 2009. This year, MSF founder Anthony Myint hopes to secure a full-time restaurant space, where he projects he can raise $40,000-$90,000 for charity annually. He's currently seeking investors who want to offer as little as $500 towards a fundraising goal of $50,000.

The Quotidian's compelling short documentary on MSF provides a great intro to Myint and his cause for the uninitiated. More details on the business proposal and call for investors are on the MSF blog.

Jon Snyder/hiddenmenu.com

Bacon focaccia, an off-menu, early morning treat at Dynamo Donuts.

​SFoodie's Andrew Simmons first reported on Hidden Menu during its October launch. The local blog unveils secret, off-menu items at bars and restaurants. Part of this site's charm lies in the fact that it isn't self-promotional. It's as laidback and yet as fierce as those secret animal style fries, a chill presence amidst the Bay Area's many, many food blogs.

Our hunch to check back in with Hidden Menu now, a few months later, was a good one, since the posts are still revelatory and coming consistently. Did you know you can get bacon focaccia at Dynamo Donuts if you get there just after 8 a.m., or that Tartine Bakery will make you the house's signature Tartine toast of that addictive bread, sweet butter, and orange marmalade? Neither did we. We're bookmarking the site so we'll be the second to know about some great secrets.

T. Palmer

​After a lengthy absence, 15 Romolo (15 Romolo at Broadway) will kick start its free Sunday movie nights this weekend on Jan. 31 with showings of Brothers Shamus, Shaft, Chinatown, and The Big Lebowski. There will also be a host of stimulating interstitials screened between each film.

In addition to the menu, special snacks will be available for purchase, including hand-dipped corn dogs and 15 Romolo's take on It's-Its featuring Humphry Slocombe's banana brown butter ice cream. Hereafter, look for movie night on the first Sunday of every month.

theworldneedsmorepie.blogspot.com

Galatzer and Bike Basket Pies on the move.

​Bike Basket Pies purveyor Natalie Galatzer told SFoodie she was filmed for a pilot television series called The World Needs More Pie on Tuesday. Filming moved to Mission Pie yesterday. We'll let you know about any future sightings.

But lest you think that traveling around the country eating and discussing pie is as easy as, well, pie, the production company's blog reports that a member of director Beth Howard's Southern California-based crew slipped in the rain on Tuesday morning and had to have her throbbing hand examined in the E.R. at Saint Francis Memorial.

Doug Zimmerman

​We've already told you about the free food served on Monday nights at Namu. Today we feel compelled to mention that the restaurant is upping the ante by requiring advance RSVPs for next Monday's edition. But not without good reason: They'll be serving a whole Yorkshire and whole Hampshire suckling pig from Marin Sun Farms.

Food Network

Can we get some cheese with that?

​Word of a mysterious cheese cart setting up in Union Square this Saturday afternoon has been circulating through the Twitterverse for the past 24 hours. We think we've unmasked the proprietor/perpetrator. An anonymous insider confirmed to SFoodie that it's none other than Olympic figure skating champion Brian Boitano, taping an upcoming episode of his Food Network series, What Would Brian Boitano Make?

It's unclear whether Boitano will be selling or giving away the various cheese-laden dishes he'll be making, and since the Union Square ice has melted for the year, he won't be able to serve them with a 'Tano triple lutz. He'll also reportedly hit Precita Park the next day to sample street food from local vendors. We advise checking the SF Cart Project street food locator that morning for details.

T. Palmer

Ah, the goodness of oatmeal.

​The notion of an oatmeal cookie has always seemed way too wholesome for us ― why oatmeal, when a snickerdoodle would do? ―  but newcomer Cups and Cakes Bakery (451 Ninth St. at Bryant) has us reassessing. Oatmealicious is a sandwich of two pleasingly soft, salted, and rainbow sugar-speckled oatmeal cookies with cream cheese frosting and chocolate ganache that are more supple than they appear. Yes, this is some oatmeal we can get behind in good conscience.

Oh yeah, they have cupcakes too ― good, inventive ones at that ― but they haven't haunted our memory the way Oatmealicious does.

T. Palmer

The difficult task of sandwich making just got easier.

​Attention lazy sandwich enthusiasts, the sort of folks who buy frozen PB&Js in all seriousness: Kindly take note of Krustbuster. It's essentially a sandwich-shaped Tupper that handles the extremely difficult task of chopping off your crust so you never have to bother with a butter knife ever again. But wait! There's more!

Are you sick of the stuff in your sandwich always falling out? Well, Krustbuster will take care of that, too, sealing your meal so you'll never lose your peanut butter again. Can't live without it? A mere $9.99 scores one at Bed Bath and Beyond (555 Ninth St. at Bryant). But you're too lazy to go all the way there, so just order it online.

With the announcement that Burger King is readying Whopper Bar in Miami Beach, the chain's first beer-and-burger joint, we think it's time for BK's competitors to step up into the area of brand extension, too. We wonder what would happen if these ideas were floated at corporate meetings:

8. Jack in the Box Haunted Houses
Jack is a scary mother-effer, especially after dark, and if a few more spooky bits were added ― maybe worms in the fries? ― company execs could have a frightening hit on their hands.

​

Doug Zimmerman

Namu's version of happy hour eating.

​We stopped in at Namu (439 Balboa at Sixth Ave.) last night to check out the restaurant's long-running Monday night free food promotion. From 9:30 p.m. till midnight (or until the food runs out), purchase a soju cocktail infusion, shot of sake, glass of wine, or pint of beer and you'll be treated to a pretty awesome array of complimentary family-style eats, along with some deep hip-hop and soul beats, the latter courtesy of a crew of rotating DJs.

Steven Gdula

Gobba Gobba Hey's chocolate glacage gobs.

​Steven Gdula of Gobba Gobba Hey shared some exclusive news with SFoodie this morning: He'll pen a book for Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury USA for a spring 2011 release.

"It'll be part cookbook, part food memoir, and part recession recovery story," Gdula said of the yet-to-be-titled tome, set to include 52 recipes for gobs as well as a narrative on the local street-food scene that inspired Gobba Gobba Hey's 2009 inception.

T. Palmer

Peanut butter jelly, without a baseball bat.

​We dropped in at Candybar (1335 Fulton at Divisadero) to see what sweet business Cathleen Li, the dessert cafe's relatively new chef, has been up to. Since this was a post-dinner visit, we were craving something light. That changed when we discovered a dish named after one of our favorite Internet memes (after the jump):

Lushie Peach/Flickr

​
McDonald's thrives on conformity ― essential when serving approximately 47 million customers daily. Ideally, items get served in the same amount of time and with the same quality and cashier friendliness at every location, a sort of Stepfordian vision of perfection. The last thing any corporation craves is a breakdown in routine, something that's happened a lot at McDonald's in recent years. You know the company is crapping McNuggets over the following crazy eight:

Photo via Epic Fail

​

8. Suing McDonald's for your fatness sounds ridiculous, but plaintiffs representing the family of two Bronx teenagers in an ultimately dismissed 2003 case were dead serious. 

7. Claims of menacing crap found in food have dogged the chain for years, but few have the gross-out potential of this month's discovery of a two-inch nail in a burger at a McDonald's in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Photo via Red Twolips

​

T. Palmer

Get baked for a good cause.

​Chef Samin Nosrat has set a fundraising goal of $10,000 for tomorrow afternoon's Bake Sale for Haiti, and has lined up three transbay locations to hawk the tempting baked goods. Stop by Bi-Rite in San Francisco, Gioia in Berkeley, or Pizzaiolo in Oakland to load up on treats; all proceeds go to Partners in Health.

T. Palmer

Come for the art, stay for the gobs.

​Fabric8 will commemorate its unique (1)4th anniversary tomorrow ― that's 4 years as a brick-and-mortar gallery and 14 years as an online shop ― with a new exhibit of local artists and a host of food-cart friends, the ones who rotate through Fabric8's Street Food Fridays.

Enjoy mixed media works by Ursula X. Young, Romanowski, Erik Otto, and Reuben Reude while snacking on a nice variety of edibles. Toasty Melts, Smitten Ice Cream, and Lumpia Cart will sell from 4-6 p.m., Adobo Hobo, Soul Cocina, and Gobba Gobba Hey will take over from 6-8 p.m., and Créme Brulée Cart, Magic Curry Kart, Evil Jerk Cart, and Gumbo Cart will roll in at 7:30 p.m. and dish their deliciousness until they run out. 

T. Palmer

​Given the prevalence of Dungeness crab in San Francisco, you'd think we'd do more with its fluffy succulence than just boiling and stir-frying. So reasons Alex Marsh, aka the Jet Set Chef, who's designed a six-course Dungeness menu he'll serve at Coffee Bar this weekend. Highlights include a surf and turf of prime rib and crab bernaise, white corn polenta with artichoke and Old Bay-seasoned crab, and, most intriguingly, doughnut holes with homemade crab jelly and vanilla.

T. Palmer

Totally crunchy.

​Venice, Calif.-based Rock-n-Roll Gourmet has introduced a new line of baked potato snacks under the Hippie Chips banner, paying tribute to the epicenter of the Summer of Love with a flavor callled Haight-Ashberry Jalapeño. With investors that reportedly include the founder of Patrón, Rock-n-Roll Gourmet and Hippie Chips might be poised to reach a wide audience, despite the cringe-worthy packaging emblazoned with a peace-lovin' blonde exclaiming, "They're awesome!" (Because people in the sixties said awesome all the time, apparently.)

A zesty combo of fruit juice concentrate and jalapeño spice, they're pretty good if you like baked potato chips. But they simply might not be worth the embarrassment of buying 'em.

Filmed last summer, when he also featured Blue Bottle Coffee, VendrTV's Daniel Delaney has finally released his episode dedicated to modern Mission street food. Check out his brief but sweet time with Creme Brulee Cart, Sexy Soup Cart, and Magic Curry Kart, the latter two back in their halcyon days selling at Dolores Park.

Besides eating and drinking everything in sight, our chief mission at the Fancy Food Show was to forage for compelling new products and companies from the Bay Area. And it was a success; keep your eyes out for these five new standouts, all available now:

T. Palmer

Kari's Malva Pudding: Ready for Recchiuti.

​
5. A common South African sweet treat, Kari's Malva Pudding from Aptos tastes like a hybrid of bread pudding and souffle, and is especially irresistible à la mode. Currently available in the frozen aisles of several S.F. stores including Andronico's (1200 Irving at Funston), we'd bet it'd also score a home run with some Recchiuti Burnt Caramel sauce.