Get there early: This morning, SFoodie's Tamara Palmer reported on Fox Searchlight's plan to hype a movie by sponsoring street-food giveaways this Sunday, including sweets from (suspected) unlicensed vendor the Crème Brûlée Guy. Mission Mission couldn't help positing the worst: I can only hope Fox pays Crème Brûlée's fine when the cops shut this down. When we raised that possibility with publicist Shelley Spicer this morning, she pleaded dumb. As far as she knew, she told us, Crème Brûlée is all good with the authorities. Glad she cleared that up.
Chinese restaurant haiku: You gotta love Twitter, if only for its power to distil special moments. Take this tweet from Hot Food Porn: The waitress's ringtone at shanghai house is toxic by britney... Hahaha, she looks 40 and doesn't speak great english, I'm surprised... Nice weekend, everybody.
• We dropped our bag lunch in the bin and checked out two places still too new to have scuff marks on the baseboards or gum under the seats: Marino in Hayes Valley and Wexler's in the FiDi.
• SFoodie blogger Tamara Palmer rocked a hairnet to take an insider's tour of the See's Candies factory in South San Francisco. Her hair has looked a little compacted ever since, but, well, somebody had to do it.
• The organizers of last Saturday's great clusterf**k (otherwise known as the Great American Food and Music Fest) issued mea culpas -- one, literally, with tears in his eyes. Peed-off commenters didn't exactly hand him a tissue.
• Not everyone was quite so weepy. The city's gearing up for next Sunday's massive Pride celebration, and SFoodie offered its own guides for navigating local LGBT food culture. Go ahead, order that third gimlet: Even before the big bash begins, it's been a week of celebration.
Home 2100 Market (at 14th St.), 503-0333.
Unlike, say, Lime, this Castro stalwart has a -- duh -- homey appeal that blunts the fact that the boys at the next table are still, you know, in the clothes they went out in the night before. If your kids have to see Uncle Derek in stale Diesel tee and with bloodshot eyes, better it should be here, where the Corn Flake-encrusted French toast can distract a little. (And better for Uncle Derek to face your kids with a couple of Home's potent Bloody Marys mingling with whatever's still rattling around his system from Saturday night.) The Niman Ranch beef hash is comfort food defined; so are the eggs Benedict. And as parents, you can feel like you're doing right by the kids, while getting a whiff -- literally -- of the club you didn't go to. --John Birdsall
Savor Restaurant 3913 24th St. (at Sanchez), 282-0344.
Unless you arrive promptly at 8 a.m., expect a wait at this Castro/Noe Valley crepe-omelet-fruit cup-jalapeno cornbread brunch place, a thoroughly kid-friendly spot. One bearishly cute employee with a ready smile has been known to coo and giggle over the wee ones, and even makes balloon animals. Beverages are constantly refreshed, and the New Orleans Benedict is a SFoodie favorite. In short, fresh food, friendly service, and patio dining in back makes Savor a destination, even if you don't live in the neighborhood. --Mary Ladd
will fire up 500 delightful desserts for free. Mr. Brûlée reported to
SFoodie that he's been slaving away in his kitchen in order to meet
this tall order.
Meanwhile, show up at the El Tonayense taco truck at 22nd Street at Harrison at 2 p.m., and you may get one of 500 free chicken tacos (or, if you're built like that, a veggie version). Fox Searchlight publicist Shelley Spicer told SFoodie that, if the demand is low enough, you might even be able to specify the taco filling of your choice (tongue, say).
We watched the cute trailer and can't figure out what the movie has to do with street food, but who's complaining?
One Italian winery, Mionetto, has finally gotten the message -- it just introduced a certified organic prosecco to the American market, currently available only at Whole Foods. At $15.99, Mionetto Organic Prosecco is significantly cheaper than champagne, more on par with a California sparkler. And it's not made biodynamically, but all of the grapes that go into this bottling are certified organic from the Valdobbiadene DOC in the Veneto. And in another nod to eco-chic, everything is recyclable, from the foil and the necker to the packaging it's shipped in.
Mionetto has been making mid-priced prosecco since 1887. This incarnation, a nonvintage brut, has notes of fall fruits (pears and apples) and anise, and is slightly bitter on the finish. It's a nice, uncomplicated sipper. And it's sure to be only the beginning of the organic bubbly import trend.
| Mary Ladd |
Let's do lunch:
The two-hour beer-soaked lunch, a dying art in these days of takeout chicken Caesars. SF Weekly restaurant critic Meredith Brody says a little resuscitation is in order: Head out to the Beach Chalet (1000 Great Highway at Ocean Beach, 386-8439) for steamed mussels with chorizo.
Drink therapy:
Wash off that work-week stink in the plush confines of Ana Mandara's Cham Bar (891 Beach at Polk, 771-6800), and with $3 drafts, $6 specialty and sparkling cocktails, and reduced-price apps from 5-7 p.m., you can afford to linger.
Call it rehab: On Sunday, all you servers, line cooks, and other industry workers can show up at 1550 Hyde Café and Wine Bar (1550 Hyde at Pacific, TK), prove you're in the biz (heel callouses and forearm burns may not be evidence enough) and get 15 percent off your check, 5:30-9:30 p.m.
