In other cities, Memorial Day weekend means slicing open shrink-wrapped packs of Sheboygan brats, spraying lighter fluid over a pyramid of briquets, and ― well, we've all tasted where that ends up. Here by the Bay, stretching out in the kitchen across a long weekend means something else entirely. To wit:
• Allison from Local Lemons blog-demos the most gorgeous squash blossom pizza, pausing only briefly to ask if we think she's pretentious. Nah.
• Jun Belen of Jun-Blog (and SFoodie) continues his current meme about Filipinos' love of purple sweets with a beautiful blog-treatise on the making of vividly purple ube tartlets.
• Bay Area Bites' Michael Procopio takes it primal, with a formula for fresh cherries covered in crushed ice and mint leaves. Procopio's explication: "The mint is crushed and torn and shredded over the ice and cherries so that, as the ice melts, the mint's essential oils gently wash over the fruit, giving the cherries a subtle little extra somthing-something." Sure, we believe you.
Super-tasty weekend, everybody.
Follow us on Twitter: @SFoodie. Contact me at John.Birdsall@SFWeekly.com
My favorite bits from the blogs and beyond:
I'm sad, the city should be sad ― name the last original burger you had in this town? Bowien and Myint devised something salty and unlovely, hulking and uneatable without it dissolving in your fingers, grease-sodden hunks dropping onto the hipster sofa shoved into a corner of Duc Loi. They got the name just right: It did seem to express something essential about the Mission, its jacked-up vitality and broke-down means, its gentrified aspirations and social conscience.
The first time I ate Myint and Bowien's burger I hated it. Barely pink, toxic with grease and sodium. On my second visit, it began to seduce me. By my third burger I loved it ― no, I respected the fearlessness behind it. And the fact that a buck from each burger went to the San Francisco Food Bank made me respect its makers.
Weird Fish 2193 Mission (at 18th), 863-4744
If past years are any indicator, you'll see the odd Costco-sourced vendor, with bags of chips and shrink-wrapped croissants, cookies, and bagels, though thankfully, most options skew fresher and more local. Carnaval food booths (garlic fries and meat on sticks, with the occasional generic Mexican stand thrown in for good cultural measure) are the same you see at other Bay Area festivals. You can find tastier options at nearby taquerias and other eateries.
And bring your stash of ones and fives: There'll be ample opportunity to buy pan dulce, Mexican spiced hot chocolate, aguas frescas, tamales, and other handmade treats. We don't recommend trying to get the attention of the dancers with your bills, but that's entirely up to you.
Carnaval Parade and Festival
When: Sat.-Sun., May 29-30, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Where: Harrison between 16th St. and 22nd St.
Cost: Free; bring cash for food and drink
SFoodie: Last I heard you were the chef of Weird Fish as well as The Corner.
Jackson: My last day at Weird Fish was in March. It was a temporary thing, a favor to Timothy Holt [who owns both Weird Fish and The Corner] after the kitchen lost its focus.
So how are you opening all these restaurants at once? My cooking background is so varied, and there are so many things I want
to do. People say you can't find space in the Mission. That's not true.
There are lots of spaces. It's more a matter of finding financing. Ken
Lewis, who was the president of Bank of America, is one of my dad's
best friends. He once said that he worked harder when he had one branch
than when he had two thousand.
The San Francisco Brewers Guild finally got it right. Why would we want to pay $40 for the Guild's annual Brews on the Bay, a beer festival that features only beers from breweries in S.F. proper? (Except Anchor, who, we guess, feels it's done enough to promote local brewing by virtue of launching the craft beer movement, and therefore doesn't need to be a member of the Guild.) Not when we could pay $20 at Giants Brewfest to drink the same beers, and then watch some hardball. Forty vs. twenty, SS Jeremiah vs. AT&T Park, no game vs. game.
Hopefully you bought your tickets already, since the event is sold out. Ticket holders arriving at 3 p.m. ― three hours before game time ― may enter through Lot D and grab a souvenir tasting glass with which to sample wares from all seven members of the Guild: 21st Amendment, Beach Chalet, Gordon Biersch, Magnolia, Speakeasy, Thirsty Bear and, the newest member, Social Kitchen & Brewery. Let's take a moment of silence for that first S.F. brewpubs (now of blessed memory), San Francisco Brewing Co.
American Grilled Cheese Kitchen 2 South Park (at Second St.), 243-0107.
