Butchery battle: Grub Street's Adam Martin picked up the phone to get to the bottom of whether big, bad Whole Foods is kicking little Drewes Brothers Meats' ass in Noe Valley. SFist raised the possibility yesterday, when it reported on an item by an alarmed member of the Glen Park Parents e-mail list. Apparently Drewes' business is down 20 percent since the 24th Street behemoth unlocked its automatic doors Sept. 30. That's according to Drewes' Josh Epple, who said his butcher shop's been around 120 years -- read what else he had to say here. A comment on SFoodie's post from earlier today drew a link from reader Liz J to a Facebook fan page dedicated to saving Drewes. But the question hanging over all of this like flies circling a steer carcass is this: Are customers turning to Whole Foods because they're grateful to have an alternative to Drewes? Are customers, you know, voting with their debit cards? And can competition make Drewes Brothers better in the long run -- assuming it can survive long enough to adjust? Just thought we'd ask.
Extra points for the swirls of strawberry sauce "ketchup" and the adorable mouse garnish composed of a puff of whipped cream, almond ears, and infinitesimal chocolate dots for eyes and nose. Excellent work, Burger Bar pastry chef! Minus points for Keller's insanely complicated Web site, complete with weird clicks and annoying techno music we could only manage to turn off on certain pages.
By the way, Keller now offers a FleurBurger at Fleur de Lys, inspired, apparently, by the ones at Burger Bar. The menu describes it as "lightly spiced dark chocolate ganache, home-made Beignet, cherry-flavored milk shake, & frozen fennel ice cream 'Pommes Frites.'" The prix-fixe menus there range from $72 to $95. But that whipped cream mouse is priceless.
The bad news: Panam is like a little place in some outer arrondissement of Paris. You know -- the kind of restaurant with a thick sheen of artifice, but a lack of substance that leaves you feeling: meh.
The mod bistro and lounge (Panam's a nickname for Paris in the local vernacular) opened in the Castro last week in the former Frisee space, downstairs from The Café. If S.F.'s design vernacular of the moment is splinter-y and rusticated, Panam veers off in the direction of Euro flash: chrome, red lights, and sleek paneling. Though a few elements in the dishes we tried had all the depth we'd hoped to find, most of the food felt as self-consciously posh as Panam's lobster-red velveteen banquette.Duck ravioles with chanterelles and truffle foam ($13) were delicious, thanks to a porto-raisin jus that tasted darkly autumnal. Three discs of foie gras torchon ($16), rimmed with pale yellow duck fat, were fine, though their accompaniments of toasted brioche, Medjool date mash, and raspberry purée skewed too sweet.
A boneless cube of seven-hour braised lamb shoulder ($19), a mid-sized entrée, was soft but underseasoned, and its heavily reduced sauce looked rich but lacked depth. Chicken grand-mere ($19) -- grandmother's chicken, a name that had us hoping for something long-cooked and comforting -- turned out to be three roulades of skinless chicken breast, dabbed with mushroom duxelles, propped up in floury gravy.In all fairness, the kitchen's only been open for a week -- not long enough for rendering final judgment. Still, the food left us feeling like we'd wandered onto the wrong tour bus, and dropped us off in a part of Paris that left us longing for home.
Panam 2367 Market at (17th St.), 556-6200
Unfortunately, yes we will cancel it pretty soon because it takes a lot of work to make and was sort of just a labor of love -- love we lost a few weeks ago when people complained about frying a piece of battered fish in the same deep fryer as the vegan patty. Even though that was a one time contamination, we just don't want to make any vegans upset in the future. Maybe we'll bring it back some day when our broken hearts have had a chance to mend a little.
Not to cry over spilled edamame, but the vegan burger was juicy, chock-full of tasty veggies like kale and shiitake/maitake mushrooms, hearty, and flavorful. If and when it comes back, we'll be there.
If yesterday's SFist post about the financial woes of venerable Drewes Brothers Meats wasn't an attempt to yank our ham bone, it's clear that people -- particularly within the stroller-rich pastures of Noe Valley -- need to get serious about eating meat. Cast aside your smoked tempeh; lose the vegan lasagne. Unless you have an overwhelming religious conviction opposing the joyous scarfing of animal flesh, a hallowed San Francisco institution desperately needs your support, even if it means rolling off the wagon for a spell.
SFist pulled the following chilling plea from the Glen Park Parents Board mailing list, courtesy of a poster named "Spring":
For those of us who eat meat and live in Upper Noe Valley, I want to let you know about the plight of Drew's Bros Butchers [sic]. They have been decimated in the past three weeks by the opening of Whole Foods. They have had to cut back on staff hours and things are not looking good. While I am highly supportive of Whole Foods as a good addition to the neighborhood, (I really think we needed a grocery store in our neighborhood and...I am from Austin, although I am appalled at the founder's stance on healthcare), I hate to see that come at the expense of a SF institution like Drews [sic].
Misspelled name aside, the sentiment is noble. Yeah, Whole Foods is fine for handouts -- go on a Sunday morning and try making a meal of miniature soup samples and gratis cheese nibbles -- but when a local gem like Drewes starts looking a little dusty, it's time to give it a nice shine -- by walking a few extra blocks to buy a rack of ribs and a six-pack to go with it.
SFoodie: Gotta ask you about the "figs on a plate" controversy.
Chang: It's just retardedly stupid. Number one, where did journalism go? The thing was totally taken out of context -- I can't believe I'm the guy saying that context thing. And even if it wasn't, you have reporters who are reporting on something they have no information on. If they [the Asia Society] wanna cancel an event, we'll just move on. Why would people get upset? I'm not gonna retract what I said. I think everybody needs to chill out. People need to smoke more marijuana in San Francisco.
SFoodie: I think they already do.
Chang: They need to smoke MORE! We were talking about creativity and things happening in America, not just in San Francisco. America lags in creativity, especially compared to Europe. We're generally five to six years behind.
California produce is so awesome. People in New York would die to get [California] ingredients. A lot of chefs in New York spend a lot of money bringing those ingredients in from California. I'm so envious. It's the same thing that [Coi's] Daniel [Patterson] is trying to say: Let's try to be creative, you have access to the greatest produce, arguably, in the world, it's wonderful. It's the same thing I said about steakhouses: Why do we need 20 steakhouses in New York? And we're not producing cooks in this country, these young people -- we're just teaching them technique.
[At the New York Food and Wine event] I did mention restaurants like Chez Panisse and Oliveto, they've been wildly important, but we need more people doing more creative stuff, and not just in San Francisco but in New York, too. I mean, Quince is hard-school Alice Waters, and yet it's a wonderful restaurant. Of course not everybody is doing figs on a plate. I'm really excited about a lot of restaurants in San Francisco, you've got so many great chefs. There's Nancy Oakes, Gary Danko, Roland Passot.
