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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.

Molinari Delicatessen dates back to 1896, when P. G. Molinari founded a salami factory at 433 Broadway. In 1913, he moved the business to 373 Columbus. In 1962, the factory moved to the Bayview District (where it's still in business), and the Columbus St. location became strictly a deli. For most of that time, Molinari was just one of many Italian delis in North Beach, but since its last competitors, Panelli Brothers and Florence Ravioli, closed in 2002 and 2003, it has been the last of its kind.

Molinari seems in no danger of closing: people line up for the old-school sandwiches ($6.50-9.75), house-made pasta, ravioli, and sauces, and Italian staples such as cheese, pasta, salt cod, canned tomatoes, coffee, wine, prosciutto, and of course salami, pancetta, mortadella, hot coppa, and other cold cuts from P. G. Molinari & Sons. There are a few tables outside if you want to devour your sandwich immediately. (Click the image below for a larger version.)

For many years (say, between 1973, when Ed Moose opened it, and 1996) it seemed that no Herb Caen column was complete without a reference to "the Washbag," the nickname Caen himself had coined for the Washington Square Bar & Grill. Moose was himself a former newspaperman (a reporter for the St. Louis Post & Dispatch), and his old-fashioned bar and grill welcomed writers, politicians, neighborhood characters, and anybody interested in straightforward American cooking and even more straightforward drinking. (Caen liked to hang out over two or three icy vodka martinis, which he referred to as "Vitamin V".)More >>

(S.F. sushi spots create specialties far more regionalized than just the California Roll; image via Flavor J)

It's not that the California Roll isn't appreciated, but it sure is fun to see sushi joints naming their maki after the neighborhoods where they operate. Here are 10 that stand out:

1. Potrero Veggie Roll (asparagus, scallions, tofu, carrots, avocado, inari) at Blowfish Sushi (2170 Bryant)

2. Marina Roll (shrimp and avocado) at Enoshima (2280 Chestnut)

3. Castro Rainbow Maki (Crab, avocado, tuna, sake, albacore, ebi and halibut) at Crazy Sushi (3232 16th St.)

4. North Beach Roll (baked sushi with tiger shrimp, avocado, imitation crab, cucumber inside, wrapped with smoked salmon and topped with aioli sauce) at Sushi on North Beach - Katsu (745 Columbus)

5. Divisaderoll (choice of tuna or amberjack, avocado, masago) at Tataki Sushi and Sake Bar (2815 California)

6. Sunset (ikura and quail egg wrapped with salmon) at Jimisan Sushi Bistro (1380 9th Ave.)

7. The Fillmore (saba, shiromaguro tartare, gobo) at Yoshi's (1330 Fillmore)

8. Fort Point (grilled asparagus and avocado topped with seared Kobe beef, fried shallots, garlic ponzu) at Tokyo Go Go (3174 16th St.)

9. Barracuda on Market (rice paper wrapped, dried pineapple, red tuna, salmon, kaiware, avocado, wasabi, tobiko, blueberry and mango sauce) at Barracuda Sushi (2251 Market)

10. S.F. Wave Tsunami (cooked red tuna chopped with ginger and green onion wrapped in egg and served with Kabuto seaweed gravy sauce) at Kabuto (5121 Geary)

Liguria Bakery (1700 Stockton at Filbert, 421-3786) has thrived for almost 90 years by doing a single thing very well: they make focaccia. Period.

They sell ten different kinds--plain ($4 a sheet), with your choice of eight different toppings ($4 to $4.50), and frozen bake-at-home ($3)--but nothing else (except perhaps the occasional raffle ticket to benefit local schools).

The focaccia is baked fresh every morning. If you get there early, the bread is still warm, and you can join the afficionados devouring it on the streets nearby, or on the benches in nearby Washington Square Park. If you get there late, you're likely to find they've sold out and closed early.

Hours:

Monday-Friday, 8am-2pm
Saturday, 7am-2pm
Sunday, 7am-noon

Columbus Cutlery (358 Columbus, 362-1342) has for decades been San Francisco chefs' favorite place to get their knives sharpened. The service is professional, turnaround is usually overnight, and prices are very reasonable: $4 up for blades up to 8", $5 for 10-12", and $6 beyond that. They also do scissors and pocket knives, can repair even badly damaged knives, and stock replacement toothpicks and tweezers for Swiss Army knives.

On top of that, the tiny shop offers one of the biggest selections of knives and scissors in the area. The following photos (click to enlarge) show only about half the items in stock.

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One of the finest aspects of the urban holiday experience is meeting friends for a hot toddy in an elegant and festively decorated saloon: a modern-day variation on those ancient winter festivals our forebears conjured up to distance the damp, cold darkness.

My favorite rendezvous is the Big Four, a cozy little bar just off the Huntington Hotel lobby at Taylor and California, where the questing merrymaker can sip a perfectly crafted cocktail by the crackling hearth while the resident piano man noodles his way through the Vince Guaraldi songbook.

The city's finest hot buttered rum is prepared at the handsome new Clock Bar off the St. Francis lobby at Geary and Powell: sweet, spicy cream-laden rocket fuel in a sleek, slender package. The Grandviews Lounge atop the Hyatt Union Square offers toddies, eggnog and other holiday restoratives as well as a stellar view of the city 36 floors below, and Schroeder's on Front Street is an excellent source for hearty German ales and lagers and that Old World black-forest gemutlichkeit. Prosit! --Matthew Stafford

By Matthew Stafford

Last week I took it upon myself to show a visitor around San Francisco. The visitor in question, a New Zealander, was on the initial leg of a year-long circumnavigation of the globe, and as a native San Franciscan I wanted her to get home several months from now and say to herself, "Well, the canals of Venice were very nice, and that Great Wall was pretty impressive, but they couldn't compare to that focaccia place in North Beach."

To that end I endeavored to show her everything worth seeing and eating in the northeastern corner of the city (District 3 to you politicos) in the space of 16 hours. We didn't hit all the hot spots, but God knows we tried.

We began with a 9 a.m. breakfast of omelets and fresh berries at Sears Fine Foods (439 Powell St.) - she wouldn't get the dollar-sized pancakes despite my admonitions - then off to the Financial District to check out a few art deco office lobbies and the Maxfield Parrish mural at the Palace's Pied Piper Lounge (2 New Montgomery St.).

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(Image via Gabo on Flickr)

One of the nice things about the Steps of Rome Caffe in North Beach is that it's usually the last place serving a hot and tasty meal after the other joints have locked their doors: The ideal destination for a celebratory late-night supper. This is where I concluded a night of revelry after the Giants won Game Five of the 2002 World Series, and it's here I found myself on Election Night 2008, the VJ Day-like echoes of honking horns, ringing cable cars and screams of ecstasy still echoing about the cerebellum.

Happily, the menu is tempting and wide-ranging as well as night owl-friendly. The carpaccio and the bruschetta make excellent starters. The spinach-pancetta salad with goat cheese and candied pecans is a painless way to get your vitamins. The grilled chicken, spring greens and pesto on focaccia is a terrific late-night snack, the pasta amatriciana is ideal for a bit of pre-hangover carbo-loading, and the spiedini (grilled shrimp, scallops, calamari and asparagus wrapped in pancetta) is a classy, delectable meal in itself. Get the affogato (gelato doused in espresso) for dessert.

A rambunctious vegan friend is especially fond of Steps of Rome for its party-time vibe as well as its wide array of flesh-free dining options. You'll also probably notice that every member of the waitstaff is cheerful, welcoming and, um, highly aesthetic. Steps of Rome Caffe is located at 248 Columbus at Vallejo; 397-0435; open daily until 2 a.m., weekends until 3 a.m. —Matthew Stafford

(Photo by Luis C.)

A few days ago I went out to lunch at a neighborhood diner, decided I was too hungry to settle for the usual big salad and granola-bar chaser, and found myself ordering a bowl of chicken tamale soup, a platter of spaghetti and meatballs, four pieces of garlic bread and some salad for roughage. Afterwards, slugging back an Alka-Seltzer and vowing to never eat again, I remembered with sinking feeling that I was meeting two high school friends for pizza and beer that same evening, not the sort of day-ending digestif I had in mind.

What I didn't bargain for was how easily our rendezvous, Tommaso's, can undermine the most resolute...resolutions. I arrived with a vague plan to spend the evening consuming a few undressed greens and a glass of lukewarm tonic water, but the aroma of roasted garlic, the sight of happy people scarfing slabs of molten pie and the venerable yet exuberant ambiance of the place worked its magic, and within minutes my appetite was remarkably restored.

Tommaso's has been baking pizza in its wood-fired ovens since 1935, and the pies' soft, chewy crusts and light, simple toppings are classic Italian soul food. The meatball variety features thick slices of earthy, spicy protein melting into a bed of tangy tomato sauce and bubbling mozzarella; the chicken-artichoke pie is lighter, brighter but equally satisfying. (Make sure to get the lush, lemony spinach salad on the side.) The low-ceilinged space is dominated by a long communal table down the middle and old-fashioned booths along the sides: very North Beach. 1042 Kearny (at Broadway), 398-9696. No reservations. —Matthew Stafford