You can't have da mango: On NPR's Morning Edition, local writer Sandip Roy waxes eloquent about Indian mangoes -- a Bush-era nukes agreement with India freed them up for import. One variety is the Alphonso, known in India as the King of Mangoes. Roy presents a specimen to Orson owner Elizabeth Falkner. She gushes, which only makes Roy homesick for Calcutta. The taste of mango was a price of immigration. It was our symbol of loss, and all the sweeter for it. Nice.
Gag reflex: What food grosses out even Chris Cosentino, whose home page shows his hands essentially festooned with animal guts? Balut, the embryonic egg loved by Filipinos. In an interview with Food Gal, Poleng Lounge chef Tim Luym says he thinks he could get Cosentino to stomach one. Having downed balut ourselves -- without even the mercy of a beer to wash the slippery thing down our gullet -- we can testify that anything is possible.
Someone not psyched about the movie's opening? The very lobbying groups and megafood coporations the film takes to task. They aren't being silent about it. Multinational biotech corporation Monsanto created a special Web page - the "Monsanto Fact Site" -- to debunk what it calls the film's bias, and a fact sheet that describes the movie as demonizing American farmers.
| Janine Kahn |
People who bemoan the donutification of the classic chewy bagel will soon be able to satisfy their urges at Roland's Bakery, a snug spot in the Lower Haight not quite fully open yet -- but accepting donations for a limited range of baked goods. On the day we visited, that included properly toothy bagels (including onion, poppyseed, and raisin), slightly shapeless but still nicely flaky and buttery croissants, and almond danish. To come: a full range of multicultural confections, including scones, cannoli, and cream puffs, and -- eventually -- heartier breakfast and lunch items. What's got the neighborhood alternately thrilled or up in arms: Roland's plans to stay open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights -- until 4 a.m.!
Roland's Bakery, 422 Haight (at Webster), no phone.
More photos from Roland's after the jump.Hear a Mission food vendor live on the League of Pissed Off Voters radio show tomorrow night on Pirate Cat, 87.9 FM. According to the League's blog:
The Sexy Soup Cart Lady will join us around 6:15. We'll talk with her about the exploding street food movement in the Mission, what's up with the police and health department, and what makes her soup sexy.
You may or may not need pen and paper handy for scribbling down recipe sex-up tips, but it should be interesting nonetheless.
| Magic Curry Man wants to serve the playa. |
It's a San Francisco tradition every bit as poignant as the annual wheeling out of survivors of the '06 quake, and a hell of a lot more pungent. Monday is the 56th birthday of Virginia Ramos, the city's sainted Tamale Lady, who's been feeding the tweaked-out and the hammered in SOMA and the Mission for nearly two decades. Just like every year, there's a bash at Zeitgeist (199 Valencia at Duboce) -- spiritual home of the blond-haired, "honey"-spoutin' icon -- with food and drink specials, music by The Goat Family, and filmmaker Cecil B. Feeder's classic grainy rockumentary (see below). The salsa-stained fun gets going at 6 p.m., 21 and over only. Honestly: How many chances do you get to touch the hoodie of a living saint?
On last night's premiere of Top Chef Masters, Hubert Keller, executive chef/owner of Fleur de Lys (777 Sutter at Taylor) charmed a gaggle of Girl Scouts and a mess of college students and whipped up the winning meal: Cold Scottish salmon, hardy carrot and petit pea soup with cinnamon croutons, and creamy mac and cheese with prawns, mushrooms, and fresh herbs (recipes are here). His victory scored $10,000 for the Bay Area chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Keller will compete against the winners of the next five episodes of the new series for the grand prize of $100,000, which he would donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. There are three other Northern California chefs in the Top Chef Masters competition as well: Elizabeth Falkner of Orson, Cindy Pawlcyn of Mustards Grill in Napa, and Michael Chiarello of Bottega Restaurant in Yountville. The program airs at 10 p.m. Wednesdays on Bravo.
In late May, Curtis the Crème Brulee Guy asked potential customers to send direct messages via Twitter, promising to reply with details about when and where he'd appear with custards and blowtorch. On Tuesday, local blog Hoodscope published a list of recommendations for neighborhood vendors. They included making Twitter profiles private, changing venues frequently, and sending private tweets to potential customers with the where and when. The same day, Crème Brulee Guy published this on his Twitter feed:
I won't likely be serving creme brûlée till this weekend. Possibly Thursday Friday Saturday by invitation only.
And just a little while ago, this:
Can twitter keep a secret partII: reply for details of Friday night's brûlée.
Earlier this week, Sexy Soup Lady told SFoodie she was contemplating a similar tactic: making street-food appearances private events, perhaps tag-teaming with other vendors.
| TyFlo's fork in happier times. |
