San Francisco Blog

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Bagdad Cafe's Desert Fries: Satisfying.

Before getting totally crunk on Gay Power at Pink Saturday, eat a little something. This trio of Castro spots offers affordable sustenance and serious people-watching, while allowing you to take a load off. You've waited all year for Pride -- you can take a few minutes to get a little nourishment under your belt before acting out your inner Sean-Penn-with-a-bullhorn drama.

Slurping and swallowing can be a flirty way to dine. Act as discreet or horny as you wish while getting your oyster groove on in a red leather banquette at petite Woodhouse Fish Company (2073 Market at 14th St.). (There's also a Pac Heights location, 1914 Fillmore at Pine.) Chowder lovers can have their way with a cup or bowl of creamy, clam-filled goodness. The best sandwiches are the crab melt and Maine lobster roll. French fries are especially pleasing with anything on offer. Yeah, there's life after Pride -- the Tuesday happy hour serves up $1 oysters from 4 p.m. to close. No reservations.

Pride doesn't have to be rowdy and raucous. The Café at Café du Nord (2168 Market at 15th St.) has breezy window seating, the perfect place to observe Saturday's gathering storm. The café opened last November -- it's affiliated with the Swedish American Hall and Café du Nord, the music and party venues above and below, respectively. You'll find nibbles, caffeine, and a select number of adult beverages (take it easy: we're talking about beer and wine) in a spotless, artsy setting. Prices are gentle enough to allow broke-ass types to enjoy themselves, and the $4 draft beers are served cold and with a smile. Pastries are made in house, and may include cookies, muffins, and date bars. Check out the pizza, sandwich, and salad options, as well. Free Wi-Fi, and the rotating art is fodder for chat or pontification, up to you.

What is it about the convergence of fried foods and giggling gay men that can really work up an appetite? Bagdad Café (2295 Market at 16th St.) is a classic Castro resto that can satisfy cravings for both. We recently observed a two-top of young hotties sharing four -- count 'em four -- plates of tasty fried delights: chicken, spuds, you name it. We've wished for years that the Bagdad would offer milkshakes, since that would totally satisfy all our drunk-slash-late-night dining needs in one fell swoop. Until that day, we'll keep satisfying our urges with the patty melt (paired with those delectable fries), or linger over the pancake-sausage combo (oh, grow up). The choice to dance or sleep it off afterwards is all yours.

The Gay Cookbook by Chef Lou Rand Hogan

 

Published: 1965, Sherbourne Press, New York

What the hell?: The Boys in the Band meets James Beard -- a self-consciously campy guide to the kitchen, at a time when gays were still mostly closeted.

An excerpt from the entry for grinding hamburger: With our grinder 'greased and ready' we shop for some inexpensive meat. (We know, Gertrude, and you're not the only one who's spent half her life looking for inexpensive meat.) Eww.

What Celia Sack, owner of Omnivore Books on Food (3885a Cesar Chavez at Church) has to say about it: "I just saw it for the first time -- it's in the food studies collection of the Faels Library and Special Collections at NYU's Bobst Library. It's a really early example of that kind of thing. The library curator said the publisher did mostly gay porn."

Lee Sutton/Flickr

In anticipation of the city's sprawling Pride festival on Sunday, June 28, SFoodie is offering up daily features celebrating San Francisco's LGBT food and drink culture.

In 1928, home ec writers and secret lesbian lovers Genevieve Callahan and Lou Richardson (yep, Lou was a she) left Iowa, where they'd been working as editors for Better Homes & Gardens magazine. In San Francisco, their ex-boss Larry Lane had just bought a failing regional magazine called Sunset.

For the next decade, Gen and Lou were co-architects of Sunset's revolutionary changes in publishing, not least of which was inventing today's style of journalism-based food reporting. No longer would food writers necessarily be pearl-strung home ec ladies, cloistered in test kitchens and sheathed in lacy aprons (though it was a breed that would survive well into the 1960s). In a series of fact-finding trips they called Pacific Coasting, Gen and Lou showed that food writers could be field reporters, discovering avocados and abalone, and mining very un-mainstream cuisines like Chinese and Mexican.

Long-time Sunset food editor Jerry Anne Di Vecchio knew Gen and Lou mostly by reputation. "They stopped everywhere," Di Vecchio said, "any taco stand or Oriental market, barbecue or food festival. They were discovering everything for the first time and telling their readers about it -- they were the first ones in America to write about posole."

By 1938 Genevieve Callahan's Sunset gig was over (Lou Richardson's name had vanished from the masthead in 1933, though she continued freelancing). Bill Lane, son of the original owner, once said he didn't recall exactly why Gen left, but speculated it may have been that Gen and Lou were too open in their relationship. Even in San Francisco, a city with a freewheeling rep even in the 1930s, overt lesbianism didn't exactly fly. He thought there might well have been pressure on the couple to cool it or leave.

Top photo by Laura T, Bottom by Manda Amanda Bear B, via Yelp

In anticipation of Pride on Sunday, SFoodie is presenting daily features celebrating San Francisco's LGBT food and drink culture.

Last year I went to City Hall to be a happy witness to my old college friend David's wedding to his long-term partner Jeffrey. The place was packed, and not only with the many gay couples marrying all over the place (including two women in the rotunda at the top of the stairs who asked my mom to take their picture). It was 08/08/08, and, eight being an auspicious number in Chinese culture, the place was buzzing with many couples taking advantage of the day. The women were in dazzling gowns beyond just lacy, beaded white -- I remember one tight red cheongsam. My friends were married by supervisor Bevan Dufty, friend of a friend of David and Jeffrey's, in the glamorous gilded and baroque Board of Supervisors Chambers. There were only eight of us: the happy couple, dressed in Hawaiian shirts (they'd flown in from a honeymoon they'd taken before the wedding), their friends Howard and me, my parents, the charming and gregarious Dufty, and his assistant, who cheerfully snapped pictures with our assorted cameras. The ceremony was short but extremely moving.

Afterwards we made our way out through the festive throngs and walked a couple of blocks to Absinthe, where my parents treated us to a long delicious lunch in a window-lit corner of the light and airy bar. We weren't the only table celebrating a marriage in the crowded house, but the staff took care of us beautifully: David and Jeffrey were treated to cocktails, and received an elaborately plated dessert with "Congratulations!" piped around it in chocolate. We couldn't have had a better time.

You might work up a fierce appetite during this weekend's Pride festivities -- for food, you naughty thing -- and it's completely possible to keep in the spirit and sample some of the gayest nibbles and sips in San Francisco.

Here are five of our faves, which all happen to be within short walking distance of each other. There's a pretty fun foodventure trail in the making here. Especially if you like to start with your (anatomically correct) dessert first.

LiLy D via Yelp

Penis & Venus cookies at Castro's Hot Cookie.

1. Penis & Venus cookies (chocolate covered macaroons) at Hot Cookie (407 Castro at Market)

2. The Tranny Chaser (champagne and white peach puree) at QBar (456 Castro at 18th St.)

3. Bloody Maria Montez (Jose Cuervo and chipotle) at Harvey's (500 Castro at 18th St.)

4. Lesbionic maki (white tuna rolled in tempura rice noodle over spinach) at Crazy Sushi (3232 16th St. at Guerrero)

5. Sexy Boy sandwich (thinly sliced ribeye steak and mozzarella sticks) at Ike's Place (3506 16th St. at Sanchez)

What are Daddy and Papa to do? Father's Day is a twofer in households with two dads, which means extra pressure to do it up right. To help, we've rounded up four special but affordable places to have brunch on Sunday with the little ones. Pack the kids in the stroller, grab the Sunday Times or that issue of Out magazine you never got to. Gay, straight, questioning, whatever -- you're doing brunch.

Home 2100 Market (at 14th St.), 503-0333.
Unlike, say, Lime, this Castro stalwart has a -- duh -- homey appeal that blunts the fact that the boys at the next table are still, you know, in the clothes they went out in the night before. If your kids have to see Uncle Derek in stale Diesel tee and with bloodshot eyes, better it should be here, where the Corn Flake-encrusted French toast can distract a little. (And better for Uncle Derek to face your kids with a couple of Home's potent Bloody Marys mingling with whatever's still rattling around his system from Saturday night.) The Niman Ranch beef hash is comfort food defined; so are the eggs Benedict. And as parents, you can feel like you're doing right by the kids, while getting a whiff -- literally -- of the club you didn't go to. --John Birdsall

Savor Restaurant 3913 24th St. (at Sanchez), 282-0344.
Unless you arrive promptly at 8 a.m., expect a wait at this Castro/Noe Valley crepe-omelet-fruit cup-jalapeno cornbread brunch place, a thoroughly kid-friendly spot. One bearishly cute employee with a ready smile has been known to coo and giggle over the wee ones, and even makes balloon animals. Beverages are constantly refreshed, and the New Orleans Benedict is a SFoodie favorite. In short, fresh food, friendly service, and patio dining in back makes Savor a destination, even if you don't live in the neighborhood. --Mary Ladd

In the run-up to Pride (Sunday, June 28), SFoodie is presenting daily features celebrating San Francisco's LGBT food and drink culture, including interviews with prominent out chefs and other foodies. We're here, we're queer, we're cooking your burger. Get over it.

Name: Andrew Freeman
Age: 47
Current gig: President, Andrew Freeman & Co. hospitality and restaurant consultants. Clients include the restaurant Poggio and the Westin St. Francis.
Past life: VP of public relations, Kimpton Hotel Group. "Before that, I'm a New Yorker -- I basically cut my teeth on marquee restaurants like the Russian Tea Room, the Rainbow Room, Windows on the World."

On coming out: "When I moved to San Francisco, it's like the world opened up, like something out of Milk. One of the most amazing things about coming out, is that what you've been carrying around as your problem suddenly becomes everyone else's problem. I love that."

On being out with clients: "There's varying levels of gayness, and you work with different clients with that. I have really bubbly personality -- there's a Will and Grace thing going on with women clients. The straight guys might roll their eyes, but they also know they're getting a certain level of style and creativity with me."

On his off time: "I have two Yorkie pups, Daisy and Tulip. I spend a lot of time with them. Oh, god, does that sound gay or what?"

In anticipation of Pride on Sunday, June 28, SFoodie is presenting daily features celebrating San Francisco's LGBT food and drink culture, including interviews with prominent out chefs and other foodies. We're here, we're queer, we're cooking your burger. Get over it.!

Name: Emily Wines (yeah, that's really her birth name)
Age: 36
Current gig: Sommelier, Fifth Floor (12 Fourth St. at Market), a Kimpton Hotels restaurant.
Past life: A self-described wine-rabid waiter at Jardinière.

Queer heroes: "I've always looked up to Traci Des Jardins [of Jardinière] -- she's someone who's always been very out at the same time that she's been a great chef. In the wine world there's Vivien Gay [founder of Vinum Global, a Berkeley-based wine sales and marketing company]."

On the challenges of being out: "I have dealt with things -- sometimes in restaurants there are certainly challenges that can arise with the Latino culture, but we have such a zero-tolerance policy here [at Kimpton], that anytime that comes up it gets nipped in the bud pretty quickly. I'm a little less out at food and wine functions, but I've always been fairly open about the rest of my life."

On working at Ground Zero for gay: "It's awesome, especially in the last year, the number of people coming in because they'd just gotten married or were celebrating their anniversary. I'm always aware of how privileged I am to be in the city where that's the case."

Today, SFoodie launches Queer Food Capital, a daily countdown to Pride on June 28. We'll be taking a look at the city's LGBT dining, wine, and bar culture, featuring interviews with prominent out chefs and other foodies, guides, even notes on history.

First up? For out-of-towners seeking a night out beyond the pink ghetto of the Castro, a four-pack of slightly splurgy, gay-friendly (though not necessarily gay-owned) restaurants. Leave your camo cargoes in the hotel room and dress up a little, bitch: We're takin' you someplace nice.

Chez Papa Resto 414 Jessie (at Fifth St.), 546-4134.
Half a block from the dense retail mecca of Westfield San Francisco Centre, Chez Papa feels like a total refuge with a whiff of Euro modern. Dump your Abercrombie bags, grab a cocktail, and sink into the black-and-persimmon ambience. If Catherine Deneuve were a restaurant, she'd feel like this: alternately kittenish and sophisticated, accessorized with glittery black bling. The food skews Provençal modern without abandoning the bistro classics: duck confit, steak tartare, profiteroles. Go crazy, only check your faulty gaydar at the door. Sure, the waiters totally seem gay, but many are just, well, French. Translation: man jewelry, hair gel, and a rugged flirtatiousness not necessarily aimed at you. Merde!