Take a victory lap around your laptop: Congratulations to Carolyn Jung, who came in second for best food blog in a competition by the Association of Food Journalists. Jung's blog Food Gal clocked in behind Between Meals by Chron senior critic and exec food editor Michael Bauer. That's right, Between Meals was named best blog at the AFJ's annual conference in New Orleans. We'll say it again: Best. Food. Blog. In. The. Nation. Think about it, people.
A former food staffer at the San Jose Mercury News (you know, back in the day when dailies had food staffs that numbered more than one), Jung is actually nice -- far nicer than we are. The networking organization draws much of its membership from daily newspaper food and wine writers, with smaller representation from alt weekly staffers and freelancers. Congratulations also to Jonathan Kauffman, staff writer at our sister pub Seattle Weekly, for taking first place in the category of restaurant criticism.
Saturday's event at Waterbar (399 The Embarcadero S. at Folsom) is still on. Expect a shucking contest, a slurping competition, and an oyster sauce-making battle. Tickets: $50, which gets you five food and wine tickets (additional tickets will cost you $5 each). Tastes include heirloom tomato gazpacho with oysters from Farallon, chili-lime cured oysters from Fish in Sausalito, oyster BLTs from Epic Roast House, Waterbar's chowder, and ginger-chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches from house pastry chef Emily Luchetti. OysterFets is a benefit for the San Mateo SurfRider Foundation.
First week up, the beast was goat. Last weekend, it was all about pork -- specifically, Duroc pig from Beeler Pork in Iowa (Duroc is a 19th-century American breed). The menu ran through pig's head terrine with mustard chlorophyll and perfectly diced pickled apples, smoked pork belly salad, pig confit and grilled chop, and spit-roasted fresh ham. There was an amazing sweet ending of maple-pecan crêpes with caramelized bacon ice cream and Maker's Mark caramel sauce. The only tarnish on an otherwise golden meal? The crêpes could have stood to be warmer, all the better to sop up that bacony ice cream.
Upcoming Weekly Beast menus explore Muscovy duck (Oct. 16-17), Wyarte Farms lamb (Oct. 23-24), and Five Dot Ranch beef (Oct. 30-31), including beef heart à la chef Jean-Louis Palladin, the deceased Washington D.C. chef Dommen once cooked with. Cost: five courses for $49. Add half-glass wine pairings from sommelier Melanie Mancini for an extra $20, or order the same pours à la carte.
Halloween has become the Irreverent Olympics, in which everyone tries to out-whimsy each other with unexpected costumes. Oftentimes, partiers look to the pantry for inspiration. Sometimes food-themed costumes go right, and sometimes they go very, very wrong.
1. Wonder Bread Baby
The San Francisco Chronicle tried to figure that out in 2007 with a blind taste test, and results, while inconclusive, did in fact reveal perceptible differences in taste between Mexican and American bottles. Senior critic Michael Bauer and wine editor Jon Bonné sided with the stars and stripes, citing its "cleaner finish" and mellowed sweetness. Former drinks writer W. Blake Gray and editor Miriam Morgan preferred theirs hecho en Mexico, trumpeting Mexican Coke's "finer mousse of bubbles and straightforward sugar flavor" as well as generally fuller taste.
Toward the beginning of his piece, Walker shares Andy Warhol's famous cola quote: "A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it and you know it." We would wager that the normally soda-phobic citizens ordering Mexican Coke at San Francisco's taquerias, bars, and upscale restaurants would disagree. As Walker suggests, devotion doesn't always require a rational explanation.
What would Yao eat? That's Yao Ming, the hella lanky Houston Rockets center, who dribbles chili oil and black vinegar on northern Chinese dishes like fennel dumplings and meat pancakes at a Mission Terrace hole in the wall -- or so we like to think. According to Yelp legend, the Shanghai native is so crazy about tiny Beijing Restaurant (1801 Alemany at Ocean) that his limo makes the long, slow crawl out whenever he's in town -- though no one in the place could tell resident food critic Meredith Brody precisely what Yao allegedly likes. No worries. Tomorrow in SF Weekly, Brody drives the lane through Beijing's Sichuan and Cantonese clichés, discovering a roster of not-so-common dishes worth the trip, even if you're rocking a mere Hyundai. Which ones are slam dunks? Find out later today at SFWeekly.com. Need a hint? Glean a preview in SFoodie's extended excerpt (after the jump).
The former Frisee space (2367 Market at 17th St.), which seats 80, will be open for dinner seven days, and offer brunch on weekends. Full bar and, according to an email by a spokesman for the place, "at night, Panam will transform into a hip Castro lounge, with DJs spinning beats from around the world." A glance at Guillaume's preliminary menu suggests a prevalence of chic French comfort foods: frogs' legs persillade, duck ravioli with chanterelles and port-raisin jus, seven-hour baked lamb shoulder with truffled mashed potatoes, and chicken grand-mère stuffed with duxelles and served with braised salsify. The restaurant will also provide nibbles for VIP guests upstairs at The Café.
