March Madness at SFoodie truly meant being downright gluttonous on a budget. Here are some of the month's highlights, in case you missed 'em:
• Road trips to Napa, Pt. Reyes, and Silicon Valley yielded a blissful bounty of influences from the finest of high-end gastronomics to the greasiest of fast foods, enjoying (almost) every bite along the way.
• We started recapping episodes of the new season of KQED's Check, Please! as well as last season's finale. Now, you don't need to watch with a pen and pad in hand.
• As our collective pockets gather lint, we will look harder for the best bargains in town. This month, we managed to find free coffee, cake, Mexican appetizers, pancakes, and, um, oysters?
•As California prepares for a virtual ban on foie gras in three years, we added our three cents into the mix. We shared local restaurant Incanto's open-letter on the subject and also offered up the case of what happened when similar legislation was passed in Chicago.
•Our city continues to stay on the cutting edge of food festivals, contests and celebrations. The amateur cooking competition known as BaconCamp and the cacao exhibition/feeding frenzy known as the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon were on the same day, and we braved both in the name of over-eaters everywhere. You're welcome.
There is vibrant life beyond Red Bull in the energy drink market, and the Bay Area rap music scene in particular has inspired several of these beverages. In fact, two local brands offer cans inspired by the same beloved rapper, the late Mac Dre of Vallejo, whose life was tragically cut short in a drive-by shooting in Kansas City, MO in 2004. Oakland company 100 Racks Inc. (aka Hunid Racks) has "Mac Dre Feel'N Myself," while Fairfield's Hyphydration Beverage Co. offers "Thizz Juice."
The studio of local producer/energy drink enthusiast Meechy of Center of Attention Recordings (aka COA) was a great place to set up a blind taste test in order to get to the bottom of which Mac Dre drink is the best.
