Grub Street San Francisco

SF Weekly Applauds Benu, Bar Tartine, and Ippuku in Best of S.F. Issue

Jay Barmann — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:05:00 GMT

]]> Curiously, in SF Weekly's 2012 Best of S.F. (in news boxes today), Best California Cuisine is the title given to Benu — Jonathan Kauffman, before departing, appears to have wanted to make the argument that what Corey Lee is doing can't be called Asian Fusion anymore, and it should be called California Cuisine. Okay, fine. Best of the New Izakayas goes to Berkeley's Ippuku. Fifth Floor takes Best Burger (Though the readers' poll winner is Super Duper). Kauffman made no secret of his love for Bar Tartine, so the fact that they were named Best Restaurant Reinvention is no surprise. Best New Bar was a tie in the readers' poll between Churchill and Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. The editors, meanwhile, name Dave's, that dive at 3rd and Market, as "the best alternative to overpriced bars." Wisely, after 2009's Pasta Pomodoro fiasco, they've stopped letting the readers even pick a Best Restaurant in the poll. [SF Weekly]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: lists, bar tartine, benu, ippuku, sf weekly

This Was the Line for Del Popolo Last Night

Jay Barmann — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:30:00 GMT

Some were left sad, but many were happy.]]> After all the buzz surrounding the Del Popolo pizza truck (and yes, we're culpable too), Jon Darsky and his crew only made it about two hours last night before running out of dough during their first public outing at Bar Agricole. They'd prepped for 160 pies, and they were sold out as of 7:30, leaving some disappointed folks (pictured) to cry into their carefully mixed rum cocktails on Agricole's patio. Alas, there will be many more chances to find the boys and eat their pizza in the coming weeks and months.

]]> Del Popolo will be at Mint Plaza for lunch tomorrow with the small food-truck gathering there (that's 5th and Mission, folks), around 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., or until they run out. They will neither confirm nor deny that they will be making future appearances at Bar Agricole, which is a nice venue for them given the big heated patio and close proximity of fine beverages. (We'll see how Anthony Mangieri at nearby Una Pizza Napoletana feels about the competition, but he's only open Wednesday through Saturday.)

Also, pizza prices remain at the bargain-basement $7, which we're guessing will go up once they're out of beta-launch mode.

As for other lunchtime truck stops, expect them to appear, as we said, at Sydney Walton Square near Jackson and Front Streets, where they were a couple times last week, with other stops TBA. Twitter is your best bet for finding them.

Earlier: Check Out the First Ever Proper Neapolitan Pizzeria on a Truck, Launching in S.F Next Week

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: truckin', bar agricole, del popolo, jonanthan darsky, pizza! pizza!

Fire Breaks Out at Power-Lunch Spot Kokkari

Jay Barmann — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:45:36 GMT

Kokkari]]> A lunchtime fire broke out in the building that houses Kokkari about an hour ago. An initial report from SF Weekly states that neither diners in the restaurant nor the cooks in the kitchen knew that anything was wrong until fire trucks appeared on the scene, and it's unclear if this was some kind of chimney fire or what. Smoke was visible outside the building. About 150 people were cleared out of the restaurant and the fire was extinguished within 30 minutes. Investigators are still looking into the cause. No word if Nancy Pelosi or Willie Brown were there at the time, but if he was, we're sure he'll blog about it. [SF Weekly] Update: The Scoop confirms there was no damage to the restaurant itself, however the restaurant remains closed pending an OK from the fire department.

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: fire damage, kokkari, willie brown

Working-Class Mission Bar El Mexicano Getting Set to Gentrify

Jay Barmann — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:00:00 GMT

El Mexicano]]> Over the liquor licenses today Grub Street discovers that Latino working man's watering hole El Mexicano at 3088 24th Street (between Lucky and Treat) is getting some new owners and will likely close for a hipster makeover in the coming months. We don't know much about new owners Christopher Conway, Shane Dalton, and Joseph Kaplan, and there's still no new business name attached to the license, but we're venturing to guess this won't be quite like the bare-bones dive that is when they're through. File under: Developing.

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: bars, booze you can use, closings, el mexicano

Tartine Mocked In New Fake Ad on Muni

Jay Barmann — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:25:43 GMT

Do they even sell doughnuts?]]> A guerrilla artist, or group of them, whom Muni Diaries has dubbed Muni Adbusters, appear to be on a campaign to put up some fake, printed ads aboard Muni busses and metro cars. So far we've seen documentation of two — the first being this ad (semi-NSFW) for, ahem, a new variety of Tums. Today, the culprits bring us an ad mocking San Francisco's most beloved temple of bread and morning buns, Tartine. See the full size photo below.

]]> The text: "Fartine Bakery & Café: Wait in line for five hours to buy a fucking donut." Sorry for the blur — this is the best we've got.

Muni Adbusters Strike Again [Muni Diaries]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: funnies, tartine

Michael Cimarusti, Jeremy Fox, and Others to Help Celebrate Manresa’s Tenth Anniversary

Jay Barmann — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:50:00 GMT

Manresa in Los Gatos, California.]]> Chef David Kinch hinted earlier that he'd be inviting some well known friends and alumni of Manresa for a series of "Cooking With Friends" dinners in July, in celebration of the restaurant's tenth anniversary. Now Grub Street gets the details on the dinners, which will include a homecoming of sorts for a group of Bay Area chefs, and two who have recently emigrated to SoCal: Jeremy Fox and Charlie Parker. Also, Los Angeles chef Michael Cimarusti (Providence) will be collaborating on the first of the dinners with Kinch on July 11.

]]> On Thursday, July 12, Kinch will be welcoming friends and chefs John and Karen Shields, formerly of Town House in Virginia and getting set to open a new restaurant in Philadelphia; and on Friday, July 13, the guest chef will be Carlo Mirarchi of the much acclaimed Roberta's in Brooklyn.

Then for the Saturday and Sunday dinners, July 14 and 15, Kinch will be welcoming back a group of alumni who have all gone on to open restaurants of their own and earn accolades in their own right. That roster will include Charlie Parker (currently at Freddy Smalls in L.A.), Jeremy Fox, James Syhabout (Commis), Belinda Leong (b. patisserie), Michael Gaines (of the brand new Central Kitchen), and Marty Cattaneo (Dio Deka). Pricing and reservation details are still to come, but you should watch Grub Street or Manresa's blog for an update.

Earlier: Manresa and The French Laundry Both Crack Pellegrino’s Top 50
SF Mag Bows Down to David Kinch, Says Manresa ‘Eludes Classification’
Michael Bauer Calls David Kinch ‘an Artist’, Renews Manresa’s Four Stars

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: belinda leong, carlo mirarchi, charlie parker, david kinch, jeremy fox, manresa, marty cattaneo, michael cimarusti

Watch the Trailer for Charles Phan’s New Cookbook

Jay Barmann — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:10:00 GMT

]]> As we've discussed before, Slanted Door chef Charles Phan has a pair of cookbooks coming out, the first of which is called Vietnamese Home Cooking and it's due out in September (it's available for pre-sale now). Here we have the video trailer for the book from publisher Ten Speed Press, and it shows Phan cooking at his restaurant and at home and talking about the simplicity of Vietnamese food. The second book, which will be The Slanted Door Cookbook, won't be out for a while.

]]>

Earlier: Charles Phan’s New Cookbook Goes On (Pre-)Sale

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: bookshelf, charles phan, slanted door

Jeremiah Tower to Return to Cook June Dinner for SF Chefs [Updated]

Jay Barmann — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:45:00 GMT

Chef Tower.]]> San Francisco's most renowned chef in exile, Jeremiah Tower, is returning in June to co-chef a dinner at Waterbar and Epic Roasthouse with former Stars chefs Mark Franz and Emily Luchetti. It marks the first time Tower has cooked in San Francisco since closing the legendary Stars in 1998, and the first public reunion he's had with two of his protégés, who have both gone on to do great things here since — Franz, Tower's former chef de cuisine who has earned high praise for his work at Farallon; and Luchetti, who authored the book Classic Stars Desserts and who is currently executive pastry chef at both Farallon and Waterbar, as well as being named, just this week, chair of the board of the James Beard Foundation. This special event dinner is taking place as part of the series of co-chef dinners that we mentioned last week which is kicking off this year's SF Chefs festival, in which various chefs at S.F. restaurants who are also old friends are collaborating for one night only.

]]> The Jeremiah Tower dinner, which has been dubbed "Stars Realigned," will take place on June 21 starting at 6 p.m., and will begin with Champagne (of course), cocktails and hors d’oeuvres alongside restaurateur Pat Kuleto at Waterbar, followed by a six-course dinner, with pairings, at Epic Roasthouse, which will also get some assistance from Epic chef Jan Birnbaum. Individual tickets are $350, and to reserve a table for 10 it's $4,000. See the full menu here, and buy your tickets here.

Update: Tower writes in to Grub Street to discuss the dishes he's most excited about on the menu. "Even more important (maybe) than the roasted whole sturgeon covered in lobster, caviar, and French butter (think blini), is the list of my favorite wines. The only thing missing from the dinner is rich roast beef married with old d'Yquem, and that will come later. My uncle Sergei (Sheremetyev) would have been proud."

Earlier: Jeremiah Tower Launches Website, Joins Twitter, Can’t Stop Tweeting
Jeremiah Tower on Decamping to Mexico, Champagne Fasting, and All the New Books He’s Writing

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: foodievents, emily luchetti, epic roasthouse, jeremiah tower, local legends, mark franz, pat kuleto, SF Chefs, waterbar

SoMa Streat Food Park Nears; a Wine Bar Pops Up at El Rio; and More

Jay Barmann — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:50:00 GMT

SoMa: The much anticipated new food-truck pod, the SoMa Streat Food Park (346 11th Street at Division) is getting close, and organizer Carlos Muela has just a few more permit hurdles before opening. There will be free wifi, bathrooms, covered seating, room for ten trucks per shift, and, eventually, a beer garden. Stay tuned. [SFist, Earlier]
Mission: This Friday, May 18, a wine bar called Mugsy will be popping up at El Rio, featuring wines from four urban wineries in the inner Bay Area, and free oysters. [Tablehopper]
Outer Sunset: A very persnickety reader of Michael Bauer's recently found that the tip calculations on the bottom of their bill at the surfer-staffed Pizza Place on Noriega are a whopping 1.3% off. They felt cheated. Bauer blogged about it. But c'mon... they're surfers. And we're talking about nickels here. [Between Meals/Scoop]
Bayview: The Wholesale Produce Market is getting a $100 million influx of cash from the city to expand and modernize over the next ten years. [Chron]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: neighborhood watch, el rio, oeno-file, pizza place on noriega, previews, soma streat food park, truckin'

Emily Luchetti Elected Chair of James Beard Board

Jay Barmann — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:10:00 GMT

]]> San Francisco's own pastry chef extraordinaire, Emily Luchetti (Waterbar, Farallon), was just elected chair of the board of the James Beard Foundation in New York. She's served on the board for six years already, and was most recently vice-chair. Just last week she was named to the org's prestigious Who's Who at the James Beard Awards. [Scoop]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: honors, awards, emily luchetti, james beard foundation

Reminder: Del Popolo Launches Tonight

Jay Barmann — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:30:00 GMT

Del Popolo]]> Former Flour + Water pizzaiolo Jon Darsky and his team have been skulking around downtown with their somewhat conspicuous, awesome, glass-walled, wood-oven pizza truck Del Popolo for the past week. Tonight, however, they're taking it fully public with a launch event outside Bar Agricole (11th and Harrison), starting at 5:30 p.m. and ending whenever they run out of pizza. Look for them in the coming days near Jackson Square at Jackson and Front Streets at lunch time, and other TBA locations, by watching their Twitter. As for tonight, please don't all come at once.

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: truckin', del popolo, jonanthan darsky, openings, pizza! pizza!

Forage Kitchen Launches Kickstarter Campaign, Raises Thousands In a Few Hours

Jay Barmann — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:40:59 GMT

Iso Rabins, forager.]]> Forage Kitchen, the upcoming new venture from Underground Market founder Iso Rabins, is finally taking shape. Rabins launched a Kickstarter campaign today to raise $150,000 to build out the SoMa-based community kitchen/café/ office space that will serve as a hub for both curious home cooks and budding food crafters alike. And because the topic of urban homesteading and artisan pickle-making is so close to so many San Franciscans' hearts, the project has already raised almost $4,000 in just a few hours. That puts Rabins and ForageSF well on their way to their goal, which they've got 45 days to reach.

]]> Rabins says they've already got a space picked out (all we know is that it's 10,000 square feet and it's in SoMa), and they'll be building out a shared-use commercial kitchen, as well as a sit-down café space, offices, a meat-curing room, and eventually a rooftop garden as well.

In the meantime, if you pledge $35 or more to the project, you automatically will get an invite to one of their upcoming events, including a Tampopo screening night with hot wild-boar ramen on the side; a mini-Underground Market on June 14; and a celebration at the end of the (hopefully) successful Kickstarter campaign. If you pledge $500 or more, you'll get invited to the Wild Kitchen founders' dinner, featuring multiple courses using foraged ingredients.

Earlier: Regarding ForageSF’s Upcoming Incubator Kitchen
Regarding the Underground Market Controversy, and Its Possible Rebirth
Underground Market Runs Afoul of Health Department Once More, Gets Shut Down

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: foodies with benefits, foodievents, forage kitchen, iso rabins, previews, underground market

Butter Love Bakeshop Brings Pies to the Castro, at Least Two Days a Week

Jay Barmann — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:30:00 GMT

Butter Love's apricot-cherry pie.]]> Butter Love Bakeshop is a one-woman, mostly delivery venture started by baker Esa Yonn-Braun. It was talked up twice in the pages of SF Weekly last year (Kauffman named her apricot-cherry pie one of his five favorite dishes of the year), and now Yonn-Braun is starting her first brick-and-mortar operation, from a counter inside Adorabella's Deli (4401 18th Street at Eureka). As of tomorrow she'll only be there twice a week, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and this is the first time she'll be doing something besides the wholesale and delivery thing — also the first time she's venturing into savory pies and sandwiches, too.

]]> There will be handheld chicken potpies, as well as other savory pies appropriate to the season for your lunchtime consumption. Plus, selections from her usual cake and pie menu will be available, as well as special made-to-order waffles on Wednesdays, and specialty sandwiches on Fridays.

And you should be warned that Yonn-Braun has become a master of the pie-making arts. Kauffman described that apricot-cherry pie as not only "memorable for its crust, which dissolved into molecule-thin flakes of pastry each time I cut into it, but for its vivid filling, as descriptive of mid-June as a page from the Farmers' Almanac."

If you can't make it to the Castro too easily, you can also still make orders for delivery at 415-602-3988 (only for delivery on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays), and find her goodies at Trouble Coffee and Coconut Club (4033 Judah Street), and Haus (3086 24th Street).

Butter Love Bakeshop Counter at Adorabella's - 4401 18th Street at Eureka - 415-602-3988 - Only open Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., starting May 16.

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: openings, butter love bakeshop, nonstaurants, sweet beat

West of Pecos Opens for Real on Valencia Street

Jay Barmann — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:20:00 GMT

That skull is not exactly real.]]> Apart from Green Chile Kitchen and the soon-to-shutter Four Corners, San Francisco hasn't had a lot of southwestern food to choose from. Well, as of tonight, there is a new cowboy-themed eatery moseying onto the scene, and it's called West of Pecos (550 Valencia between 16th and 17th). It's a new venture from the MacNiven family, including brothers Dylan (who brought us Woodhouse Fish Co.) and Tyler (who's best known for being one of the "hippies" on the ninth season of Amazing Race). They had a soft opening last night, but tonight's the official real deal, and the menu, as discussed, features Southwestern-American fare like a green-chile burger, and lamb albondigas. Update: See the full menu right here.

]]> The restaurant takes its name from a 1945 western starring Robert Mitchum, which is actually called West of the Pecos, and the team brought in as much Old West authenticity as they could, including a couple of 100-year-old saloon-style doors from Santa Fe, reclaimed wood, a great big steer skull on one wall which they've named Hornsby, and axes for door handles. (They had to do a pretty serious build-out after taking the former, bare-bones Bombay Bazar and Ice Cream space, which needed a whole new roof and facade.)

There's a wood-fired oven where executive chef Leo Varos is roasting meats and making homemade tortillas, and there are various Tex-Mex-y comfort foods to choose from like queso dip with crispy potatoes, cornbread and molasses, pozole, and green-chile mac and cheese.

As for the booze, there's a full cocktail program with a house signature Pecos Margarita, Pecos Punch (served in cowboy-camp-style tin cups), and a Mezcal Mule.

See our full slideshow, and let us know how it is if you run over there for opening week.

West of Pecos - 550 Valencia Street between 16th and 17th - Open Monday through Thursday, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., and until midnight Friday and Saturday.

Earlier: West of Pecos Due Next Week, May 12
Stay Tuned for West of Pecos, Coming to Valencia Next Year

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: openings, dylan macniven, slideshow, tyler macniven, west of pecos

Kama Sushi Debuts Second Location on 9th and Folsom

Jay Barmann — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:35:00 GMT

]]> We warned you last week, and now Kama Sushi has swung open its doors a little ahead of schedule, in the former Schnitzel Haus/Daddy O's space on Folsom and 9th. It's the second outpost for the restaurant, which just last year took over the former Amberjack Sushi in Noe Valley, and you'll find a similar menu of sashimi, $15 sushi combos, and specialty maki like the salmon-skin roll, and the Mango Dessert Roll, with snow crab, mango, tobiko, and mango wasabi. [Earlier]

]]> Read more posts by Jay Barmann

Filed Under: openings, empire building, kama sushi