It’s winter, and in uber-seasonal-sustainable San Francisco that means citrus is everywhere on menus right now. Three restaurants are even doing events and menus celebrating oranges and lemons and such, starting tomorrow with Perbacco’s ‘Battle of the Oranges,’ featuring a special menu served through Valentine’s Day in honor of a traditional event by that name in the medieval town of Ivrea, near Torino, Italy. Started in the 19th century, the festival involves girls throwing oranges, a precious fruit not native to Ivrea, at boys they fancied. If the a boy reciprocated a girl’s feelings, he threw an orange back. The special, four-days-only menu at Perbacco features dishes that showcase grapefruit, blood oranges, Cara Cara oranges, and lemons. See the full menu here.
And next week, from February 16 to 23, Spoonbar mixologist Scott Beattie and the restaurant’s pastry chef Tosha Callahan are launching a “Give Us Your Fruit!” program, in an effort to help justify their gold-level LEED certification and decrease their carbon footprint. They ask people in the Bay Area with citrus trees on their property to not let that goodness go to waste, and to bring in fruit in exchange for dinning credit at Spoonbar. They hope that the lemons, oranges and whatnot, picked at the peak of freshness and spending minutes in transit instead of days, will be a delicious and eco-conscience addition to the drinks and desserts at Spoonbar. And they’re willing to take up to 100 pounds of the stuff! Make sure your fruit is ripe and clean, and your dining credit will be based on the market value of the fruit and call 707.433.7222 if you have questions.
Also, as we mentioned earlier, David Kinch at Manresa is doing his annual Citrus Modernista dinner on February 20. Look for the menu to go up at that same link by the middle of next week.
Earlier: A First Peek at Manresa’s New Addition, and News About Their Annual Citrus Dinner [Grub Street]
