Grub Street San Francisco

Top Chef Masters Season 2 Cast Is Decidedly Short on San Franciscans

Jay Barmann — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:20:42 GMT

Wylie Dufresne can't say no to Bravo, but clearly most of SF's chefs can.]]> Six chefs are returning to compete in the sophomore season of Bravo's Top Chef Masters, but none of them are from San Francisco — and nor are any of the fresh competitors. As EW reports, the returnees include molecular gastromony enthusiast Wylie Dufresne, who's become a favorite of the Top Chef franchise, and chef Mark Peel of Campanile in L.A. Among the newcomers are herb enthusiast Jerry Traunfeld of Poppy in Seattle, NY's Marcus Samuelsson, and Susan Feniger of L.A.'s Street.

]]> Granted the last season's finale was NoCal-heavy, with Hubert Keller and Michael Chiarello making it to the final three, only to lose to Rick Bayless. But did not a single Bay Area chef have the time or inclination to compete for a little national exposure? Did none of them make the cut? Season 1's Elizabeth Falkner may be busy relocating a restaurant right now, but what's everyone else's excuse?

No guts no glory, guys. Bayless saw a healthy bounce in his restaurants' popularity after his win. Let's represent next time, k?

The full list of competitors is below, and the new season premieres on April 7th.

* indicates a returning chef-testant.

Jody Adams - Rialto Restaurant, Cambridge, Mass.
Govind Armstrong - 8 oz Burger Bar, Los Angeles, Calif.
Graham Elliot Bowles - Graham Elliot Restaurant, Chicago, Ill. *
Jimmy Bradley - The Red Cat, New York, N.Y.
David Burke - David Burke Townhouse, New York, N.Y.
Wylie Dufresne - wd~50, New York, N.Y. *
Susan Feniger - Street, Los Angeles, Calif.
Debbie Gold - The American Restaurant, Kansas City, Mo.
Carmen Gonzalez - Chef Consultant, New York, N.Y.
Maria Hines - Tilth, Seattle, Wash.
Susur Lee - Madeline’s, Toronto, Canada
Ludo Lefebvre - Ludo Bites, Los Angeles, Calif. *
Tony Mantuano - Spiaggia, Chicago, Ill.
Rick Moonen - Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nev. *
Mark Peel - Campanile, Los Angeles, Calif. *
Monica Pope - t’afla, Houston, Texas
Thierry Rautureau - Rover’s, Seattle, Wash.
Marcus Samuelsson - The Red Rooster, New York, N.Y.
Ana Sortun - Oleana, Cambridge, Mass.
Rick Tramonto - TRU, Chicago, Ill.
Jerry Traunfeld - Poppy, Seattle, Wash.
Jonathan Waxman - Barbuto, New York, N.Y. *

Top Chef Masters Season 2 Competing Chef Lineup [EW]
Earlier: Allow Wylie Dufresne to Fix You a Drink [Grub Street NY]
Bayless Takes Top Chef: Masters; Vegas Could be About the Food [Grub Street SF]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: top chef, campanile, elizabeth falkner, hubert keller, jerry traunfeld, mark peel, michael chiarello, rick bayless, street, susan feniger, tv land, wylie dufresne

Rare Soprano Sighting in FiDi

Jay Barmann — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:05:23 GMT

]]> James Gandolfini supped at Kokkari last night with writer/director Philip Kaufman (Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Unbearable Lightness of Being). Could they have been discussing Kaufman's Challenger, his space shuttle flick still in production? [Tablehopper]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: celebrity settings, james gandolfini, kokkari, philip kaufman

Is SF Losing Women Chefs?

Jay Barmann — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:33:06 GMT

What do you think, Ms. Perello?]]> "It may sound sexist, but I always refer back to Madeleine Kamman, who claimed that she could always tell when a woman was in the kitchen because they cook in a more humble, nurturing — but no less delicious — way." — Michael Bauer, lamenting his perceived thinning of the ranks of women in SF kitchens. Careful Michael... we doubt most women chefs would buy into that essentialism. [Between Meals]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: quote of the day, melissa perello, michael bauer

Pot Dispensary to Move Into Former Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory

Jay Barmann — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:14:45 GMT

]]> The Berkeley City Council gave the green light yesterday to a medical marijuana dispensary to move into the former Sharffen Berger headquarters at 914 Heinz Avenue, against the objections of some residents and business owners, as the Oakland Tribune reports. "Everyone in Berkeley says they believe in medical marijuana, but not in their neighborhood," says Debby Goldsberry, Director of Berkeley Patients Group, the dispensary in question.

]]> The Sharffen Berger facility has been closed since last year, when parent company Hershey decided to shutter it. Berkeley Bowl West, which will be a neighbor to the pot club, fears that its patrons will try to use their already tight parking lot; and Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley, a French emersion school a block away, objects because as a private institution it is not protected by Berkeley's ballot measure JJ, which keeps marijuana dispensaries from opening within 1,000 feet of public schools.

But the loudest objector to the plan is a developer, Wareham Development, who owns some stake in the neighborhood and has threatened to sue the city if they allow Berkeley Patients Group to move in. So it looks like they'll be suing.

Mark Berson, President of the Chamber of Commerce, says of the conflict, "I think we can work something out."

Berkeley OKs medical pot clinic move into former candy company [Oakland Tribune]
Earlier: Hershey to Close Down Sharffen Berger's Berkeley Facility [ViniCultured]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: beef, berkeley, berkeley patients group, medical marijuana, sharffen berger chocolate

Another Pasta Pomodoro Goes Down

Jay Barmann — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:55:21 GMT

]]> The Cow Hollow location of Pasta Pomodoro is now slated to shutter in the next two months, making it the fourth in the franchise to close its doors in SF, as Eater reports. Looks like the new owners of the mini-empire must be clearing dead weight off the balance sheets, or else this closure was a condition of the sale. Next up in the same space: a place called Unwind on Union, which sounds suspiciously like a wine bar.

Yet Another Pasta Pomodoro Slated to Shutter [Eater]
Earlier: Pasta Pomodoro Empire Changes Hands [Grub Street]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: closings, pasta pomodoro

Calculating the Opportunity Cost of Denny’s Free Grand Slam

Jay Barmann — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:40:17 GMT

]]> Nationwide today Denny's is offering their Grand Slam breakfast for free until 2 p.m., marking the second year of this recession-era promotion. SF Weekly also marks their second year of invoking John Stuart Mill and calculating the "opportunity cost" of waiting in line an hour or more for a meal worth $5.99, factoring in a "Dignity Constant" and "Patience Factor" as well. Yes guys, we get it. It's greasy and not worth it unless you're homeless. And you're nerds.

Denny's Complimentary Grand Slam Only 'Free' To Those Who Can't Do Math [SF Weekly, diagram here]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: freebies, denny's, funnies, sf weekly

Michelle Obama Wants Kids to Get Moving

Helen Rosner — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:30:00 GMT

from Grub Street Chicago

]]> ]]> It's entirely logical that Michelle Obama's followup to her super high-profile White House garden would be a program aimed at fighting childhood obesity. Her "Let's Move" campaign launches today, kicked off by a Presidential memorandum that coordinates federal agencies to promote better health with a 90-day plan. The First Lady's four-pronged attack aims for more physical activity in schools and communities, wider availability of healthy food, and clearer nutrition information. [WSJ; CBN]

]]> Read more posts by Helen Rosner

Filed Under: politics, michelle obama, obesity, the white house

Suede Nightclub Shutters Voluntarily After Shooting

Jay Barmann — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:50:46 GMT

]]> This past weekend's shooting at Suede near Fisherman's Wharf, which left one dead and four injured, sparked an uproar in the neighborhood and the club has now offered to close for 30 days, the Examiner reports. District Supervisor David Chiu says he is asking various city departments to find whatever tools they may have to shut the club down. "They have clearly not demonstrated their ability to keep our neighborhood safe and to ensure public safety," chides Chiu.

]]> The trouble is, the one deceased victim and the alleged shooter — who was himself shot by police and later arrested — are both from Richmond, and it's not the club's fault that a possible East Bay gang/turf war erupted on their premises. The place is a semi-douchey, models-and-bottles sort of venue, and this kind of violence isn't a regular occurrence as far as we know. Should the city free to punish a place for the crowd it only occasionally attracts?

Police are still looking for explanations for the conflict, saying that several eye witnesses are now having "memory failure."

Nightclub to Close Temporarily After Shooting [SF Examiner]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: temporary closings, bars, beef, crime, models and bottles, nightlife, suede

How to Infiltrate Villa Taverna; New Olympic Menu Items Appear at Canadian McDonald’s

Jay Barmann — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:59:12 GMT

• The Bold Italic ventures into some of the city's most rarefied private club spaces, like Villa Taverna and The University Club. [Bold Italic]

• Traci Des Jardins's new ballpark replacements, Mijita and Public House, are still in the pre-plywood phase over in the former Acme Chophouse space. [Eater]

• Crushpad, the place where you could make your own wine using high-quality grapes, is moving from SF to Napa. [W. Blake Gray]

]]> • Canadian McDonald's have added new menu items for the Olympics, including a s'mores pie and a chicken parmesan wrap. [CityPages]

• In related news on the domestic front, Michelle Obama will unveil her campaign to fight childhood obesity today. [WSJ]

• In an effort to solve budgetary woes, some states are looking to privatize liquor stores. [WSJ]

• Moby edited a new book on veganism. [Voracious/Seattle Weekly]

• People who drink two or more sodas a day have an increased risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a new study from the University of Michigan. [NYP]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: mediavore, crushpad, mcdonald's, michelle obama, mijita, public house, the bold italic, traci des jardins, villa taverna

Appetizing Apps

Daniel Maurer — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:50:00 GMT

from Grub Street New York

]]> ]]> Today in tech land, the Telegraph reports that Foursquare has signed a deal with Zagat that will allow you to pull up the little red book’s ratings, and Num Num Chronicles points out StreetEats, an app that lets you find out where your favorite food truck is parked.

]]> Read more posts by Daniel Maurer

Filed Under: other sites, food trucks, foursquare, street eats, truckin', zagat

Bauer Treks to Tahoe to Review Manzanita; Unterman Loves the Noodles at King Won Ton

Jay Barmann — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:50:26 GMT

]]> • Bauer bestows an encouraging but un-stellar two and a half stars on Traci Des Jardins' Truckee Ritz-Carlton venture, Manzanita, calling the food "good enough to be a destination" but not "startlingly inventive." [Chron]

]]> • Patricia Unterman treks out to the avenues to try out King Won Ton, saying that it's not only "impossibly" cheap, but the "noodles had an extraordinary texture, a crispness between the teeth and on the tongue like none I’d ever tasted." [SF Examiner]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: the other critics, king won ton, manzanita, michael bauer, patricia unterman, traci des jardins

New Details Emerge About Local Mission Eatery

Jay Barmann — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:40:17 GMT

]]> Coming soon to the Mission, an eatery from former Fish & Farm exec Jake Des Voignes called Local (3111 24th Street), which according to new documents submitted to the city will be "local in every sense." The 41-seat restaurant will start out with daily sandwich service and serve dinner one or two nights a week, with a four-course prix fixe menu. They'll expand to two seatings, four nights a week, and all of the meals at Local will follow the recently noted trend of intimate, chef's table-style dinners in which all the guests will get to interact with the chef during the meal and watch the food being prepped before sitting down to dine.

]]> The space will feature a green design by Atelier K.S., and in addition to being a full-service restaurant Local will offer weeknight classes taught by local chefs (including Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats and Charlie Kleinman of Wexler's), and offer a subscription library full of cookbooks.

And in another exciting bit of news, the restaurant will work in an "unprecedented" partnership with SOMA wine purveyor Terroir to offer wines at retail prices — something Plumpjack originally did at its eponymous café back in the 90s, but this is a case where we wish more people would follow in Gavin's footsteps. Given Terroir's decidedly Euro-centric list, the wine list may be the one aspect of Local which isn't all that local, unless they limit their offerings to California producers.

The restaurant goes before Planning this Thursday to get its conditional use permit, and wish them the best of luck getting this place open soon.

Coming Soon [Local Mission Eatery]
Conditional Use Permit Report [SFGOV, scan to illustrated appendices]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: previews, fish & farm, jake des voignes, local mission eatery, locavores

Jenny's Chinese Becomes Yemeni's

Jay Barmann — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:50:37 GMT

]]> This week in cross-cultural transformations: Long-shuttered Tenderloin Chinese joint Jenny's, at the corner of Sutter and Larkin, will be reborn as Yemeni's, a Middle Eastern restaurant. It's good to know we can soon find falafel in the heart of Vietnamese sandwich country. [Tenderblog]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: previews, tenderblog, tenderloin, yemeni's

Get the Biggest Bang for Your Buck at Beer Week

Jay Barmann — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:45:06 GMT

]]> San Francisco Beer Week has finally arrived and hop-heads from Santa Cruz to Mendocino are converging to taste and celebrate local brewmeisters' best work. There are a number of cheap tasting opportunities on docket, as well as a bunch of beer-pairing dinners at local restaurants that shouldn't be missed. Below, a few selected highlights:

]]> (See the full schedule here, and to have it at your fingertips, download the Beer Week iPhone app.

Tonight, Monday, February 8th
Can-a-Palooza
21st Amendment
563 2nd Street (mezzanine level)
5 to 10 p.m. Admission: free,
Come down to SOMA to taste $2 canned craft beers from 21st Amendment, Oskar Blues, Anderson Valley, Buckbean and Big Sky.

Sierra Nevada Brewery Night
Pi Bar
1432 Valencia Street
3 to 11 p.m. Admission: free
Enjoy some small plates of house-made sausage along with limited release beers from the popular brewery.

Lost Abbey and Port Brewing
City Beer Store
1168 Folsom Street
6 to 9 p.m. Admission: free
Chat up head brewer Tomme Arthur and taste some special stuff.

ALSO: Beer pairing dinners at Beretta ($58), Ramblas ($80), and Bar Tartine ($100).

Tuesday, February 9th
A Night Without Hops
Monk's Kettle
3141 16th Street
5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission: free
Brian Hunt of Moonlight Brewing Company features a selection of hopless beers.

Brewery Ommegang Cheese and Chocolate pairing
Bloodhound
1145 Folsom Street
5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Admission: free
Bloodhound will be serving Chocolate Indulgence and Three Philosophers on draft to be paired with great cheese and chocolate from Madagascar.

ALSO: Beer pairing dinners at The Republic ($55), Suppenkuche ($60), and Soluna ($55).

Wednesday, February 10th
Charcuterie and Beer Tasting
Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery
1398 Haight Street
11 a.m. on. Admission: Free, price TBD.
A 6-course flight of meats and Magnolia beers, including house-made pate, terrine, mousse, a potted meat, and a couple of air-cured salumis.

Happy Hour in Coney Island
Bender's
806 S. Van Ness
Enjoy Coney Island hot dogs, $3 pints of Coney Island Lager, and your first opportunity to try this year's batch of Coney Island Human Blockhead (Tough-as-Nails-Lager).

ALSO: Beer pairing dinners at Wexler's, Monk's Kettle, with the Bewers' Guild ($80), and Scala's, with Beer & Nosh ($100).

Thursday, February 11th
Beerlesque
Paradise Lounge
1501 Folsom
8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Admission: $8, $10 after 10 p.m.
Join the Hubba Hubba Revue (SF's biggest, wildest, and most elaborate burlesque & variety show), Vagabondage, and Shmaltz Brewing Company, ringleaders of the line of sideshow-inspired Coney Island Craft Lagers for a night of beer and burlesque.

ALSO: Beer pairing dinners at Nombe ($20-$45) and a Mardi Gras Beer Dinner at The Moss Room.

Friday, February 12th
Firkin Friday and Meet the Brewers: SF Brewers Guild
Speakeasy Ales & Lagers
1195 Evans Ave
4 to 9 p.m. Admission: free.
Meet the brewers of the San Francisco Brewers Guild during the event from 4-7PM, and enjoy special Guild beers on draft.

ALSO: A big dinner with the Beer Chef on Treasure Island, and a beer pairing dinner at Paragaon ($48).

Saturday, February 13th
The San Francisco Beer Run
Around the Haight and GG Park
11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sort of a pre-Bay-to-Breakers event of running while drinking, and vice versa.

Sunday, February 14th
The 17th Annual Barleywine Festival
Toronado
547 Haight Street
11 a.m. on Admission: free

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: booze you can use, 21st amendment, bars, beer week, beretta, bloodhound, magnolia pub and brewery, nombe, soluna, toronado

Inside the Bocuse D’Or USA Finals

Helen Rosner — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:15:00 GMT

from Grub Street New York

]]> ]]> The Bocuse D’Or USA finals yesterday in Hyde Park resembled Iron Chef. The twelve-chef tournament is a kitchen-versus-kitchen competition in front of a live audience, judged by culinary luminaries, with a limited set of central ingredients (salmon, lamb) and a stressfully restrictive time limit (3.5 hours). But the converted gymnasium at the Culinary Institute of America was no Kitchen Stadium: Instead of engaging with the audience and performing for the cameras, competitors worked in stoic isolation, separated from the audience and one another in Plexiglas kitchen cubicles, while in-house video crews caught every move for the large projection screens hanging overhead.

]]> The four chefs cooking in the first heat of the finals began their day at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m., so when we strolled on to the CIA campus just past 10, competition was already well underway. The real action came later, during the tastings at the end of each heat, when the fifteen chef-judges took their seats (arranged alphabetically, Achatz to Ziebold), whipping the crowd into a cheering, live-tweeting, camera-brandishing frenzy. White-gloved porters marched platters of proteins down the line and Café Boulud executive chef and former Bocuse competitor (2007) Gavin Kaysen provided a Miss America–style voice-over on each dish’s composition and the competitor’s professional background. Only eleven chefs served their food — Philadelphia's Jim Burke, of James, was disqualified after he didn't finish his platters in time. James Kent, the sous-chef at New York's Eleven Madison Park, won the opportunity to represent his country in France next year.

Watch our slideshow to see the real draw of the day for starstruck CIA students: the staggering amount of culinary wattage.

]]> Read more posts by Helen Rosner

Filed Under: bocuse d'or, cia, daniel boloud, slideshow, thomas keller