Posts for March 23, 2012 -- Grub Street San Francisco -- Restaurant News, Openings, Chefs

Posts for March 23, 2012

3/23/12 at 5:09 PM
Neighborhood Watch
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8 Washington Project Moves Forward; Chilayo Closes in the Marina; and More

Embarcadero: That delayed project at 8 Washington Street, which is set to introduce two new restaurants to the Embarcadero, passed a big hurdle this week with Planning. [Chron, Earlier]
Marina: Chilayo (2150 Chestnut), the Mexican restaurant from the same owner as Tlaloc in the FiDi and Cancun in Berkeley, is closed. And thus the rather large space is up for grabs. [Scoop]
Mission: Pop's (2800 24th Street) is having some fun with their sidewalk menu board. [Uptown Almanac]

3/23/12 at 4:45 PM
Actually Pretty Awesome
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Actually Pretty Awesome: Green Garlic Bread at State Bird Provisions

By Jay Barmann

Mmm. Fried bread.Photo: Grub Street

What's not to like? It's fried bread. Fried garlic bread, made with seasonal, market-fresh green garlic, and topped with a hefty dollop of super-fresh, perfectly seasoned burrata. It was love at first bite, and that wasn't the only thing we devoured on a recent visit to three-month-old State Bird Provisions on lower Fillmore.

3/23/12 at 4:05 PM
Empire Building
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LYFE Kitchen Plans More Locations, Launches New Product Line

By Jay Barmann

LYFE's new retail line.Photo: Courtesy of LYFE Kitchen

LYFE Kitchen, the healthy fast-food concept from a couple of former McDonald's execs and chef Art Smith which opened its first location in Palo Alto last October, is plotting to open three to four more locations this year, as the Business Times reports. Also, they sent out a release today about a new line of healthy foods, all under 500 calories per serving, that go on sale starting next week at Costco locations throughout the Bay Area. The initial launch of these refrigerated "family meals" includes a Thai coconut curry, and a chimichurri beef with ancient grain risotto, with more fresh and frozen products to follow. As discussed earlier, LYFE is unfortunately an acronym for "Love Your Food Everyday," but their intentions are good. [SF Biz Times]

3/23/12 at 2:45 PM on Grub Street LA
Crime Scenes
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Crooked Tomato Kingpin Pleads Guilty

By Hadley Tomicki

Frederick Scott Salyer, the disgraced former owner of Monterey's SK Foods who stands accused of rampant bid-rigging and price-fixing within the nation's tomato industry, has plead guilty to charges of racketeering and price-fixing in federal court. At the height of his scheming, Salyer's company controlled fourteen percent of the processed tomato market and rose to become the second biggest in the industry, during a period in which he now admits he bribed store managers at major grocery outlets and falsified lab reports on the safety and organic standards of SK's tomato paste.

3/23/12 at 2:25 PM
Reopenings
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Meadowood Reopens Tonight With a New Menu and Refreshed Look

By Jay Barmann

After a winter hiatus in which The Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena has totally redone its kitchen and refreshed the dining room, the Michelin three-star restaurant reopens tonight. Chef Christopher Kostow has reworked the menu during the break, and as he told Grub Street back in December, "We could have continued doing exactly what we've been doing and been a great restaurant for another five years. But we want to be even better than that." We have some more menu details and photos for you, as well as some words about several new dishes from Chef Kostow.

3/23/12 at 1:30 PM
Truckin'
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Behold: The Pizza Pimps Truck

By Jay Barmann

The Pizza Pimps' pimpmobile. P.S. That phone number doesn't work anymore.Photo: Courtesy of Pizza Pimps

A new pizza truck called Pizza Pimps is coming to the East and South Bays whose mascot is (get this!) a pizza slice with a purple feathered hat and diamond-studded cane. The mascot's name? Pimp-a-roni. And they're available for kids' birthday parties! Of course that may lead to some uncomfortable conversations about the definition of the word "pimp," but it's all in good fun. As NBC reports, the truck is mostly relegated to the south, making appearances as part of the Food Truck Mafia only as far north as Union City. [GoodTaste/NBC]

3/23/12 at 11:53 AM
Funnies
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Not Surprisingly, Penthouse Club Ladies Dislike Showgirls

Though Showgirls may have a cult appeal for cinephiles, the irony and the ecstasy of Paul Verhoeven's 1995 masterwork are lost on the ladies of San Francisco's new Penthouse Club, as they reveal in a hilarious new "X or Y" interview with Thrillist. Also, these are probably not their real names. [Thrillist]

3/23/12 at 11:42 AM
Video Feed
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Jiro Dreams of Sushi Opens Today

By Jay Barmann

A little documentary that offers an adoring portrait of 85-year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the best sushi chef in the world, opens in San Francisco today. It's called Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and our cohorts in New York offered up a clip of the film last month. Today, we bring you another, in which the humble Jiro says that he still "feels ecstatic every day" making sushi, and, "Even at my age, after decades of work, I don't think I've achieved perfection."

3/23/12 at 11:00 AM on Grub Street NY
Food Network
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Sandra Lee Says Bourdain’s ‘Shtick’ Is ‘Ridiculous’

By Alyssa Shelasky

Sharp as a (Cool) whip.

She's a tough nut to crack, but Andrew Goldman extracted a little bit of juice from the impermeable Sandra Lee, including bits about her drug-addicted mother whom she's estranged from, the backlash she's constantly facing from food "snobs," her thoughts on Anthony Bourdain's big mouth, and the universe's general Kwanzaa Cake bashing. Also, Cool Whip and boyfriends. [NYT]

3/23/12 at 10:00 AM on Grub Street NY
BFF
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At Least Ghostwriter-gate Helped Rachael Ray Bond With Gwyneth Paltrow

By Alyssa Shelasky

The Rachael Ray show had a hyped-up segment today where Gwyneth Paltrow and Ray Ray — who both took serious offense to Julia Moskin's ghostwriter "allegations" — pretty much just said "It's mine, mine, mine, mine, mine!" to each other via Skype. We get it!! Your hard-working "assistants" don't do shit. Noted!

Earlier: Times Responds To Ghostwriter Story Backlash

3/23/12 at 9:50 AM
Previews
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Red Vic Space Will Get Food Stalls; Alembic Expansion Gets Fleshed Out

By Jay Barmann

The place will get a single smooth facade, with the Alembic at left.Illustration: via Uppercasing

The owners of the former Red Vic movie house in the Upper Haight held a community meeting this week to unveil their plans for repurposing the space, which includes the aforementioned expansion of next-door cocktail nexus The Alembic. The restaurant will add about 38 seats with the expansion into what was the Red Vic lobby, including a communal table at the center (see the floor plan here). But also central to the new concept is a "market hall" in the largest Haight-facing portion of the building which will contain five food stalls (we also heard something about this in the fall), kind of like 331 Cortland in Bernal Heights. There are now two confirmed tenants including an "eco-conscious bakery/coffee shop" called PicnicFare.

3/23/12 at 9:15 AM
Mediavore
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As Restaurant Economy Improves, Pop-Ups Remain Popular; A Food Revolution in Mexico

• Pop-ups are still popping: The Journal delves into the economics and ongoing popularity of pop-ups, and Wise Sons plays a starring role in the piece. [WSJ]

• Local soda maker SodaCraft, which makes regular appearances at Ferry Building farmers' markets, has a new owner: William Pilz of Hapa SF. Former owner Jesse Friedman says he sold the business in order to concentrate on his Almanac Beer Co. [SFoodie]

• As Tartine's Chad Robertson could tell you, sourdough bread can be made from levain, or starter containing "wild" yeast, but it's somewhat tricky. [Salt/NPR]

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