Talk about losing your audience: Is vegan cooking tasteless, clunky, or just plain freaky sometimes (emphasis on the sometimes)? And if you say so are you a big old hater? Those are questions Anrica Deb must be asking right about now, after Part One of her guide to cooking vegan for the holidays hit Mission Loc@l. Deb rolls out a couple of tasty-sounding cruelty-free recipes -- no controversy there. But in her intro, she talks about changing the perception of vegan cooking from amateurish to accomplished. Here's a taste:
Let's face it, vegan food can be bland, weird, or just plain inedible. Part of this mediocrity comes from (some) vegan chefs' unforgivable penchant for using inappropriate foods to "substitute" for non-vegan components. For example, replacing protein-y eggs with completely unrelated substances like applesauce or cornstarch... Furthermore, vegans tend to be unreliable when it comes to recipes. Being desperate for food options, they'll rave about sub-par fare.Uh-oh. Out of five posted comments, four expressed insult. Take deva: "the first couple of paragraphs were pretty insulting. are you vegan?" Read the rest (including Deb's recipes) here.
And uh, remember: We're just the messenger.
Now till Dec. 31, SFoodie is counting down the city's top alternative food and restaurant trends of 2009 -- the ones you won't be reading about in the Chron.
See also:
S.F. Alt Foodie Trend No. 8: Splinter GroupBoards from old barns, water tank shells -- weathered, splintery wood was among the most prized materials for bar and restaurant interiors in 2009. From Outerlands to Ironside, we apparently didn't feel comfortable in a place this year if it didn't look like Hagrid's cottage.
Here's how we put it back in October:Horizontal planks, vertical boards, new wood, reclaimed lumber. Sanded and varnished or, more often, left gray and raw, bristling like three-day stubble. Is it the design equivalent of the sandwich and the beer, of thrift-store flannel and the untrimmed, pube-scraggle beard?Call this new anti-paneling a signifier of anti-artifice, the slightly greasy bottle of A1 on the table that lets you know what you're about to order -- though it might set you back $30 per entrée -- is seriously real.
Frankly, we can't resist the earthiness and mild heat soy crêpes add to sushi, especially Yoshi's Caliente roll, which contains albacore and tempura jalapeño. Sho removes the pepper's seeds before rendering it crunchy in the tempura fryer, seasons the fish with a touch of sesame oil and red miso, then wraps both in sushi rice with a studied touch and our beloved crêpe.
"I use this wrap because many Americans don't like the taste of seaweed," Sho told us. "And it makes the roll look fancy and new, don't you think?"
Yes Sho, we won't mess.
When: Thurs., Dec. 31
Time: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for regular seating; separate New Year's Eve party from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
The deal: Japanese izakaya pub food, drinks, and music. Regular seating until 8 p.m. with toshikoshi soba available; from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., there'll be sake, passed food, soba (a traditional send-off for the old year), and ozouni, a good-luck chicken and mochi soup
Cost: $50 (for the 10 p.m. party)
Notes: Kagami-wari sake barrel opening at midnight
Add-ons: $99 osechi boxes filled with an array of good-luck New Year's foods available for pre-order by calling 681-7150 by Dec. 29; pick up on Dec. 31
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Applewood Bacon, Kabocha Squash, Pear, and Taleggio Sandwich from Pal's Takeaway
Makes one sandwich
1 small red kabocha squash, peeled, seeded, and sliced 1/8-inch thick
Exra-virgin olive oil
Sherry vinegar
A little chopped fresh ginger (optional)
Salt and black pepper
2 thick slices Acme pain au levain or similar country-style bread
Mayonnaise and whole-grain mustard, mixed
A handful wild arugula or other quality greens
2-3 slices Taleggio cheese, ripe enough to be almost runny
3 slices ripe pear, from a Warren or similar variety (see note above), tossed with a little lemon juice
3 slices applewood or other artisan bacon, cooked
Preheat oven to 400°F.
In a bowl, toss the squash slices with oil, vinegar, and optional ginger; season with salt and pepper. Spread out on a baking sheet and roast till cooked and golden, about 15 minutes. Cool.
Assemble the sandwich: Spread a little of the mayo-mustard mix on each slice of bread. On one slice, arrange the arugula, squash, cheese, and pear slices; top with bacon. Serve at once.
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Opening chef Mark Denham, who left a year ago, will be back Dec. 28-31, along with cooks who've scattered to Spruce, Bar Tartine, and Commis. Menu offerings Dec. 28-30 will include things like chickpeas with housemade blood sausage, an esquiexada of local hamachi, plancha-cooked petrale with winter greens and crispy trotters, and roasted Napa Valley lamb.
New Year's Eve is a four-course, $75 prix fixe described as a cooks' collaboration with, Hargrave digging deep into Laïola's Spanish cellar. Make reservations for any of the four nights here.
Bluefin is a controversial fish, simultaneously sought after and avoided around the world. Last week, Mark Rumminger of Berkeley-based blog Mental Masala popped up on The Ethicurean to pass along a big dose of tuna trouble. Rumminger highlighted someicky findings in a new paper by scientists from Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History, who analyzed tuna sushi from 31 restaurants in New York City and Denver.
Among a litany of bluefin travesties (both the fish's protectors and avid consumers should be alarmed), the study reveals something particularly disturbing: Much of what passes for so-called "white tuna" -- albacore, typically -- is not tuna at all, but instead the very curious and somewhat threatening finned thing called escolar. Now, despite the vaguely sinister name (we think of a deceased Colombian drug lord), escolar happens to be a firm, fatty, deep-water ocean fish with an intense flavor and flesh the color of dirty snow. It bears little resemblance to the tuna it's often required to emulate.
Where: Foreign Cinema 2534 Mission (at 21st St.), 648-7600
When: Thurs., Dec. 31
Time: Seatings at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
The deal: May the force be with you: four-course festive menu with Star Wars theme by chef-owners Gayle Pirie and John Clark, plus screenings of Star Wars films, and live music from Star Wars-themed Cantina Band
Cost: $85 for the 5:30 seating, $100 for the 8:30 p.m. slot; price does not include beverages, tax, or tip
Add-ons: Cocktails and wine
serious about your start-up," she tweeted recently, "when you find flecks of jam in your afro at
1AM & you marvel at the jam color, not ur hair color." Jam on, Ms. Simley, jam on.
