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Stories

Napa Wine Aged in Ocean Yields Surprising Results

By Anna Roth
The Best Burger in the Mission Right Now

By Mary Ladd
Now We'll Probably Never Get To Try Lion Meat

By Anna Roth
Pop-up Report: Rice Paper Scissors at Mojo...

By Ben Mesirow
Bottle Rock: Napa's Food, Wine, & Music...

By Anna Roth
Food Truck Bite of Week: Floating on a Peanut...

By Lou Bustamante
New Tumblr Blog Reviews Restaurant Bathrooms

By Max A. Cherney
Best Cinco de Mayo & Kentucky Derby Parties...

By Lou Bustamante
Class Alert! How To Cook For Your Mother and More

By Tamara Palmer
Original Joe's Brings Its Vaunted Burger To...

By Alex Hochman

Trend Watch

San Francisco Sure Does Love Its Waffles

By Anna Roth Fri., Mar. 15 2013 at 11:30 AM

Categories: Restaurant News, Sweet Beat, Trend Watch

Flickr/yummyporky

Belgian waffles at Grand Lake Farmer's Market in Oakland.

Handheld waffles are big business in Belgium, and they're reaching critical mass in San Francisco. This morning brought news via Inside Scoop that Anthony Myint of Mission Chinese, Commonwealth, and Mission Bowling Club, is teaming up with coffee roaster Andrew Barnett (formerly of Ecco, which is now Intelligentsia) to open Linea Caffe, a little espresso/food stand in the Mission, right next to Duc Loi supermarket.

Sounds like the cafe's focus will be on espresso instead of pour-over coffee, but the bigger news is that Myint will be trying out a few new concepts: GreenSalads.org, which comes with its own manifesto, and Lt. Waffle, which will be offering sweet and savory Brussels-style waffles.

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Trend Watch

9 Places to Celebrate Quail in the Bay Area

By Tamara Palmer Thu., Feb. 28 2013 at 4:45 PM

Categories: Palmer, Trend Watch

Tamara Palmer

Fried quail at State Bird Provisions.

State Bird Provisions, that little restaurant named the best one to open in America last year by Bon Appetit, is admittedly built off of that titular Golden State bird, the quail. Here, it's fried in a coating that incorporates croutons from bread baked in-house and pumpkin seats and set atop a bowl of lemon-stewed onions. And while quail isn't the most exotic inclusion on a menu ever -- it's been in nachos on the Chevy's menu for eons, for example -- State Bird's celebration of the teeny tiny treat has inspired more chefs to take a closer look at quail.

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Trend Watch

Biggest Trend Spotted at The Fancy Food Show: Laziness

By Tamara Palmer Tue., Jan. 22 2013 at 2:20 PM

Categories: Palmer, Trend Watch

Tamara Palmer

This year, it's all about Gangnam Ramen.

Right now, the last samples are being snarfled down at Moscone Center for the conclusion of the three-day and 38th annual Fancy Food Show. More than 17,000 attendees attempt to taste as many of the 80,000 products on display from 35 countries over the course of three days, and it's enough to bring even a professional food taster to her knees.

A panel of trend forecasters and other culinary experts settled on five major trends that they saw at this year's event: Botanical beverages, "oil nouveau" (tea oils, seed oils etc.), blue cheese, seeds, and bananas. We noticed these ideas in abundance as well (and marveled at new applications such as Oregon cheesemaker Rogue Creamery's blue cheese powder), but the trend we noticed most was laziness.

See Also: Rules for Maximizing Your Fancy Food Trip

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Trend Watch

Welcome to the Era of the "I Ate Sichuan Peppercorns With Danny Bowien" Piece

By Anna Roth Fri., Dec. 7 2012 at 1:00 PM

Categories: Trend Watch

Alex Hochman

Bowien in the dumpling station at Mission Chinese Food, several years ago.

Last year, everyone in the national food media was going wild over Copenhagen's Noma and its forager chef, Rene Redzepi, to the point where Eater started tracking the evolution of the "I Foraged With Rene Redzepi Piece." The fascination with New Nordic has since waned, but there's a new story to take its place: the "I Ate Sichuan Peppercorns With Danny Bowien Piece," which has run in GQ, Bon Appetit, and New York on the heels of Mission Chinese Food's opening in Manhattan. I'd bet good money that more will follow.

Tags:

Danny Bowien, food media, Mission Chinese Food

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Trend Watch

'Tis the Season for End-of-Year Food Trend Lists

By Anna Roth Wed., Dec. 5 2012 at 12:00 PM

Categories: Trend Watch

Flickr/NatalieMaynor

Farmers' markets: So hot in 2013!

Time for another trend list! Facing off against Andrew Freeman & Co.'s prediction that toast and weird meat cuts will be big in 2013, and Technomic's prediction that 2013 will be the year of vegetables and ancient grains, we've got another food trendspotting contender in the ring. This time it's the National Restaurant Association, and their list is only remarkable in its predictability.

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Holidays

Black Friday: Where to Eat Black Food Today

By Tamara Palmer Fri., Nov. 23 2012 at 11:00 AM

Categories: Holidays, Palmer, Trend Watch

Tamara Palmer

Blowfish, Sushi To Die For's black Beauty Roll.

Since Black Friday has come to symbolize a dark day of consumerism wherein people are willing to camp out overnight in the cold for a cheap television set, we're taking the meaning back: Today is a perfect day to enjoy black food.

While we're not sure if it's safe to eat the locally-made Red Vines' Black Licorice again just yet, our favorite black food that won't poison you has to be the gorgeous Beauty Roll from Blowfish, Sushi To Die For. It's a maki that's filled with scallop tempura and crab and surrounded by sushi rice that's been colored black with squid ink.

Tags:

A16, Blowfish, Polly Ann Ice Cream, Red Vines, SPQR

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Trend Watch

Food Trendspotters Now Predicting 2013 Will Be Lamest Year Ever

By Anna Roth Tue., Nov. 20 2012 at 12:05 PM

Categories: Trend Watch

Flickr/Martin Cathrae

Veggies: so hot next year.

Food trendspotting firm Technomic has come out with its annual predictions for what's around the corner in the food world, and claims that 2013 will be the year of ... the vegetable. Now the only question remains: Is this better or worse than the 2013: the year of toast forecasted by local consulting firm Andrew Freeman & Co.?

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Cheese

Burrata and Hand-Pulled Mozzarella Are Not Cheesy Trends

By Tamara Palmer Fri., Nov. 9 2012 at 12:45 PM

Categories: Cheese, Palmer, Trend Watch

Tamara Palmer

Burrata and frybread at State Bird Provisions.

Cracking into the year's umpteenth portion of burrata (fresh cheese made of mozzarella and cream), this time over frybread at State Bird Provisions the other night, and a trendy thought occurred. Like sliders or tacos, burrata has officially achieved near-ubiquity on San Francisco menus. But unlike those dishes, burrata's omnipresence is a most welcome wave, and we've yet to find a version around these parts that is not competent. Drape it over meatballs, in sandwiches, pasta, or bread, or just plop it on the plate -- and we're gonna come a-calling.

Tags:

burrata, cheese, Cupola Pizzeria, mozzarella, State Bird Provisions

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Breakfast / Brunch

Eat to The Beat: DJ-Assisted Weekend Brunches Still in Swing

By Tamara Palmer Thu., Nov. 8 2012 at 12:00 PM

Categories: Breakfast / Brunch, Palmer, Trend Watch

TRACE Restaurant

Bacon and cocoa nib waffles at "Remix Brunch."

The trend of brunch served with a side of music has been cooking in the Bay Area for a few decades now; old club kids might remember Boogie Buffet, a weekly Sunday party in San Francisco held in the mid-Nineties where food was set to a chic beat. Today, like waffles and syrup, it's still a great combination to begin (or, in some disco-smeared late night cases, end) the day that's being adopted in restaurants large and small. Here's a few that have caught our ears lately:

Tags:

Spice Monkey, Trace

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Trend Watch

It's Pumpkin Season! 10 Ways to Celebrate

By Tamara Palmer Tue., Oct. 23 2012 at 9:55 AM

Categories: Palmer, Trend Watch

Prospect

Pumpkin beignets at Prospect.

Pumpkin season is firmly underway, and it's a relief to know that the fine restaurants of San Francisco are exploring the ingredient's beautiful versatility rather than just reaching for a can opener. It's being used in sweet as well as savory applications and is even finding its way into a cocktail shaker. Here's a little taste of what local chefs are cooking up with pumpkin.