Not so yummy: Yesterday GraceAnn Walden did a Brett Favre on the Yummy Letter, only instead of Walden deciding to retire, its was the Yummy Letter that retired on her. Publisher Susan Dyer Reynolds delivered the grim news about the foodie newsletter, which launched six months ago: I am sad to say that today's Yummy letter [sic] will be our last. GraceAnn and I have savored every minute of it; however, in these tough economic times we simply could not raise enough advertising dollars to sustain the project, and, unfortunately, we have run out of money. Walden, ex-Chron Food staffer and originator of its "Inside Scoop" column, says she'll continue to yack on KGO, both on the Ronn Owens show and as sometime host of Gene Burns' Dining Around, and continue writing the "Chef's Chat" column for Northside San Fancisco. As a food reporter for Yummy, Walden was ballsy and occasionally crusty, possessed of a Rolodex bristling with chef's cell numbers: a real maven's maven. The Yummy Letter failed to reach a wide readership (hard to do in six months), and Walden never shied away from plugging her other endeavors, from neighborhood walking tours to her own newsletter. But hey, it's hard out here for a pimp. We'll miss ya, GraceAnn.
we are coming sanfrancisco watch out!
Today, Toasty Melts tweeted this:
could it be? a grilled cheese cart spotted on the streets of SF? stay tuned!
Seems to us Sexy Soup Lady might think about making a batch of tomato soup and parking nearby. Follow the brewing drama via Toasty's feed.
First: Dirty Girl heirloom tomatoes, prepared in a tomato salad with Gioia burrata and rice-wine vinaigrette and in a gazpacho. Next: Grimaud Farms guinea hen, the breast wrapped in Hobbs applewood-smoked bacon, and the leg prepared confit style with summer vegetables and jus. Dessert: Hamada Farms two stone-fruits crostata with vanilla bean ice cream. Word has it that there'll also be a special birthday surprise.
It's happening Sunday, August 2, $55 per person, plus $20 for wine pairings. Spruce's regular menu will also be available. Call 351-1212.
Festival-goers will be able to take in crafts, music, martial arts, dance troupes, and performing kids' groups, all while wallowing in cruelty-free chow. Organizers are expecting some 5,000 folks to attend. The vendors lineup includes Raw Bliss Foods, Taqueria El Coronel, Sahara Middle Eastern Cuisine, Oliver's Market, Nan's Gourmet Foods, JK's Four Season, Seed, El Malecon, Fresh China, Karma's Indian Bistro, and Sally Tomatoes. Meals for Change is expected to serve Shepherdless Pie and Chunky Vegetable Paella, and sweets seekers may find nirvana in desserts from California Funnel Cakes, Pinky's Old Fashion Cotton Candy & Treats, and Del Secco's Gelato 'N Sweets. Nobody said giving up animal meant giving up indulgence, right?
For more information, call (707) 591-1786.
As for local street food, it may have glimpsed its shark today, with the announcement by Napa Valley's Brix (7377 St. Helena Highway, Yountville): three dinners meant to showcase, in the words of the press release, "Executive Chef Anne Gingrass-Paik's passion for exotic 'street food.'" Frankly, that word exotic would make us reach for the clicker, if only this were Blossom. Instead, we're kind of fascinated by the "Brix Unpaved" menus (Mumbai Fare, Bollywood Flair on August 20th, One Night in Bangkok on September 17th, and Street Feasts of Sicily on October 15th).
Now, we're sure chef Gingrass-Paik is super talented,and we've no doubt she's got passion for street food. But come on, ever been to Brix? It's lovely, rambling place backing up to vegetable and herb gardens with vineyards beyond, and there's a gift shop in the lobby. The press release again: "Guests of 'Brix Unpaved' will enter from the north side of the gardens along a decorative bulb-strung walkway where they will find a 'street' lined with food stalls."
You can score advance tickets for $35 ($40 the nights of) -- cheap by Yountville standards, though not exactly streety. And while we're not sure all the dishes will offer authentic tastes of the streets of Mumbai, Bangkok, or any other teeming megatropolis, we're pretty sure you'll catch a hefty whiff of shark mingling with the scent of lavender drifting in from the garden.
Normally we'd head straight for the soufflé-like version at Zanze's. Alas, it's closed for summer vacation until August 20. The city does offer a few intriguing alternatives, although it seems easier to find a frozen Thai basil soufflé with chocolate ganache and blackberry soup (Zinnia) or chocolate-cherry baked Alaska with beet cake and cocoa nib paper (Absinthe) than the old-fashioned version. Even the steakhouses, where cheesecake used to be the inevitable sweet ending, are hit-or-miss in this town: Harris Ranch, Acme Chophouse, Lark Creek Steak, no; Morton's, yes -- New York cheesecake for an eye- (and no doubt stomach-) popping $9.
Mission Beach Café has a modish honey lavender cheesecake ($7) -- they've been known to do a Blue Bottle mocha flavor, too. Our pick for Best New Bakery in 2008, Thorough Bread and Pastry Co., offers individual cheesecakes topped with fresh strawberries and blueberries ($5.50). And there's always the cream cheese ice cream at Humphry Slocombe ($3.25/scoop) -- that is, as long as it's one of the dozen or so available flavors. Today, it's not, though you might glimpse a bit of cheesecake deliciousness in the Straus plum yogurt, which you can get. Don't you just love San Francisco?
| Positively Fourth Street: Zuppa's sidewalk grill. |
Everybody's angling for a slice of street-food immortality -- or at least, a few bucks from diners who may not have the scratch for sit-down.
For oh, six months now, Zuppa (564 Fourth St. at Brannan) has been setting up a lunchtime sausage grill on its patch of Fourth Street sidewalk, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. For $5, you get a Niman spicy pork link cooked over mesquite in a little iron hibachi, topped with long-cooked onions and peppers. The sausage we tasted was plush and juicy, with a heap of gilded sweetness from the onion-pepper mix. But it wasn't without it's oh-no-they-din't moment, courtesy of the cold and kind of pasty Sara Lee hot dog bun, straight out the bag. Totally killed our street-food buzz.
Can you spot the flaw?
"The PlayStation space was always part of our plans," organizer Mark Brett told SFoodie. "Within the first four weeks of the first space opening, we had a waiting list of vendors. Our original lease runs through next summer, but we have options to extend. And the Metreon management is so pleased they've offered us spaces in two of their other malls." Brett did suggest management was moving ahead with launching two new farmers' markets in Westfield properties, but declined to say where. The Metreon market was conceived as a kind of placeholder until owner Westfield begins a major remodel in late 2010. Plans call for turning the Metreon's ground floor into a restaurant arcade, reportedly featuring the likes of Mixt Greens and Best-O-Burger.
Among the new vendors to the expanded farmers' market are cupcake company Kingdom Cake (50 rotating flavors, including basil-lemon-blueberry and vegan coconut). There's also Tara's Organic Ice Cream, which originated in New Mexico but moved to the Bay Area to be near its suppliers, primarily Strauss organic dairy in Marin.
Starting August 10, D'Urso Italian Delicatessen (236 Townsend at Fourth St.) will serve up breakfast and lunch sandwiches featuring a mix of imported and domestic meats and cheeses. There'll be soups and salads made in house, as well as organic coffee and breakfast pastries baked on site. It's a first venture for owner Joe D'Urso, who told SFoodie he grew up in an East Coast restaurant family. He described D'Urso as a "specialty destination," hawking not only prepped foods but a small offering of olive oils, balsamic, and pastas, in addition to cheeses, salumi, and other meats. The small storefront used to be a gym, D'Urso said, "back when people could afford private trainers."
Lunch sandwiches will range from $5 to $7.95. And while the menu's still in flux, expect offerings like Calabrese salami with tapenade, heirloom tomatoes, and balsamic, and pork loin panino with apple chutney, arugula, and Fontina. D'Urso's Web site is still under construction. Opening hours are expected to be Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m.-7 p.m., and Sat. 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
1. Little Skillet
Located right here in San Francisco, the recently opened Little Skillet serves up traditional chicken and waffles along with a laundry list of sides, including mushroom-herb gravy, sausage gravy, strawberry-rhubarb jam, and butterscotch. Not in the mood for chicken and waffles? Little Skillet also offers angel biscuits, po' boys, and straight-up boxes of chicken.
brought chicken and waffles from Harlem to the West Coast back in the
1970s. Now the Los Angeles chain is the go-to pop culture reference for
the combo, with celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Arsenio Hall praising
the goodies dished out here. Any day now, early Roscoe's alum Michele
Wilson is expected to launch her own place, Gussies' Chicken and
Waffles, in San Francisco.
