When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a strain as well. The ability to cruise along on flat inland water, surveying the sights, is another advantage. Finally, it’s a good core workout. If you’re sold on the idea, schedule an intro SUP lesson, free with board and paddle rental, and you may find yourself riding the waves like a Polynesian king.More
Many of us remember coming home from our elementary schools with freshly glazed pinchpots, cups, or whatever else our young imaginations could conjure up. Saturday mornings at the Randall Museum can bring that memory back, or create a new one for the youngsters. Ceramics make great gifts — especially on Mothers' and Fathers' Day. Hop on board for the Randall's once-weekly class, and for $6 and two weeks to have your work fired and glazed, you'll have all the materials you need.More
December is almost over - the New Year is coming up and everyone is busy drying off from the rain or holiday shopping. Let's take a look at what's happened this month.
You aren't a true San Franciscan until you have referred casually to a microhood, be it FolSOMA (Folsom between Seventh and Eighth streets), SoMisPo (where SOMA, the Mission, and Potrero Hill meet) or, most impressively, Mint Slope.
Whether you're dying to moonwalk among other music revelers or just want an excuse to dress like film sweetheart Molly Ringwald, your best bet is the Cat Club's Thursday night All 80s dance party (formerly known as the Breakfast Club and 1984).
PostedByAlex Hochman
on Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 4:30 PM
Alex Hochman
ICHI's yuzu chicken wings get a preliminary cooking sous vide.
Tim Archuleta doesn't act like a chef whose restaurant is in only its third night of existence. Behind the sushi bar at ICHI over the weekend, he was all smiles, telling stories while preparing dishes and calmly speaking orders to his sous chef.
ICHI, though Archuleta's first restaurant, belies years of experience.
The chef cut his teeth at Tokyo Go Go under Kiyoshi Hayakawa (now owner of Koo), whom Archuleta refers to as "Sensei."
Ichi's fish is fresh, generously portioned, and impeccably cut. We started with yellowtail ($5.25), firm and assertive, and local albacore tuna ($4.75), meltingly rich and smooth. Next, a Sriracha-spiked mayonnaise added pleasant but not jarring heat to a spicy scallop roll ($5.75). Thankfully, we were still able to taste the rest of our food. A pair of glistening shrimp was juicy and sweet; their accompanying heads expertly fried and a little gamy, just how we like it. Our final bite from the sushi bar was an exemplary order of briny, flanlike sea urchin roe, harvested in the waters off of Fort Bragg.
Tony Gemignani makes only 73 Neapolitan-style margherita pizzas every day in North Beach at Tony's Pizza Napoletana, baking them in a wood-fired oven that gives off a whiff of obsessive. We love Gemignani's margherita pies so much, in fact, we tagged them Number 22 on SFoodie's 92 favorite things to eat and drink last year.
On Sept. 30, fellow lovers of the Tony, you're in luck. Even if you're not among the lucky 73 that day in North Beach, you can get a taste of Gemignani's restaurant that night at SF Weekly's DISH party at Metreon. Now, Tony's Pizza Napoletana will definitely not be spinning pies that night, but it has come on board to join dozens of other restaurants laying out tasty bites at the benefit for Streetsmart 4 Kids. Scroll through the list of vendors, and find out how you can score $10 off the ticket price.
Owner of the Dolores Park Cafe says Rec and Park failed to enlist community support for the vendor plan.
Here's the thing, says Crystal Vann Wallstrom, co-founder and director of advocacy for the volunteer nonprofit Dolores Park Works: Not everyone who has concerns about the city's Recreation and Park Department's plans to bring food vendors to the park is a NIMBY.
And while reaction to the vendor plan has sparked passions on both sides (check out comments on SFoodie's Friday post), Vann Wallstrom defends critics of the plan. "Everyone likes to blame this on the NIMBYs, but not all neighbors are NIMBYs," Vann Wallstrom says. The problem, she says, stems from Rec and Park's total outreach fail.
Not the War of the Worlds. But pretty darn compelling.
Tonight, SFoodie editor John Birdsall will be a guest expert on KALW's "City Visions" program, which airs at 91.7 FM from 7 to 8 p.m.
He'll be on hand to talk about this week's theme, "Ushering in San Francisco Summer" ― the few months of the year when you can eat outside without a hoodie and a knit cap. All you need to make the most of the city's street carts, food trucks, and farmers'-market stalls is a wad of cash and a pocket full of Wet-Naps.
Have a tip or an outdoor-dining question for John to field? Call the studio at 841-4134 or e-mail feedback@cityvisionsradio.com.
For many the idea of punch is that unnaturally red "Hawaiian" liquid from a plastic gallon jug. Even the spiked variety that occasionally shows up at adult gatherings is usually nothing more than the kid stuff fortified with cheap liquor.
Real punch was invented by sailors circa the 1620s. The mixture comprised water, spices, fruits, a sweetener like honey, and alcohol in the form of wine, beer, or distilled spirits. In the Royal Navy, punch eventually evolved into grog, with the addition of citrus. Its primary purpose was to make stagnant drinking water palatable, but drinking punch soon beame an extremely popular social activity for high society.
The experience was very exclusive ― the lower classes were left to drink gin. Drinking parties spent whole afternoons over the punch bowl, plotting, and making deals. It was one of the earliest forms of the cocktail; punch houses were the earliest bars. What could be more fitting, on the eve of SF Cocktail Week, than to celebrate this important libation? Not to mention that Sept. 20 happens to be National Punch Day.
To commemorate that, Comstock Saloon, Rickhouse, and Smuggler's Cove have all created special brews. Today Comstock is serving a Jerry Thomas-style punch ($4/glass), a combination of raspberry syrup, lemon, and Bols Genever with exotic fruits and seasonal berries. Add an order of Carlo Espinas's pickled eggs and it'll be a history lesson come to life.
This was fun for about 20 seconds, and then our arms got tired.
As much as the SF Weekly tells PR people we don't write about things we don't buy, unsolicited samples and tchotchkes deluge the paper's offices ― more bottles of cheap wine than a Tenderloin corner store, enough T-shirts to clothe a Hungarian village.
Friday's haul set off a fierce debate. Waiting for two of us at our desks that morning were four-foot-long, four-pound mailing tubes, each containing a piece of wood with some paper nailed to it: A bourbon-barrel stave from a beer company advertising a new aged beer. What in the #$^@ do I do with a piece of charred wood? I began the day's rant with. Someone spent $15-$20 to mail me a piece of junk that is just going to go into the trash.
Then the marketing staff came over to inspect and proclaimed the stunt genius. "It got your attention!" they countered, pointing out that the stave has a presence, a heft, a smell that an e-mail wouldn't.
So which is it? Brilliant or a waste of money? And do you want these? Because they're still going in the trash.
15 Romolo is hosting explorations of vodka, gin, fortified wines ― for free.
SF Cocktail Week rolls into town tomorrow and honestly, wow: Even we're a little afraid of the sheer volume of cocktails and events going down. Thankfully we know the key to survival: eating and hydration.
A week-long celebration of spirits, bars, and culture, this week promises something for everyone's thirst and budget. To help you navigate, we've highlighted the top free events. Grab your liver and your ID ― but feel free to leave your cash at home.
The skinny: Bacardi portfolio mixologist and tequila specialist Manny Hinajosa and 42BELOW brand ambassador Borys Saciuk will discuss and taste vermouth, sherry, port, aromatized wine, and other fortified wines and their applications in drinks.
PostedByTamara Palmer
on Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 10:45 AM
Tamara Palmer
We are a sucker for just about anything that's been breaded and tossed into a deep-fryer. Can you identify the S.F. restaurant where this picture was snapped and tell us what the menu item is? Offer a guess in the comments below.
Congratulations to Kat, who figured out that the corn chowder in last week's Mystery Spot is from Citizen's Band.
The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the
San Francisco restaurant scene.
Eater's Carolyn A. (via Agro Panhandler) learns of a former Beach Chalet staffer, Ivan Hopkinson, who hopes to take over 1785 Fulton and turn it into the Fulton Street Brewpub, with a mission similar to that of Magnolia. Hopkinson appears to be connected to something called Shipwreck Breweries.
Eater SF also reports that Spuntino (1957 Union, 931-6410, www.spuntinosf.com), the cheese-and-wine store attached to Ottimista Enoteca, has just gotten the permits to add a wine tasting bar.
PostedByTamara Palmer
on Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 8:40 AM
Tamara Palmer
We caught an early outing for new street food purveyor Sataysfied at Fabric8's Street Food Fridays last week. Feldo Nartapura sells Indonesian-style satay marinated in kecap, or soy-based sauce. We enjoyed the sweet and crispy outside and juicy and tender inside of the "Porky Pig" skewers, and were told to expect chicken in the near future.
Nartapura, an Internet marketer by day, told us that he's inspired by all of the street food vendors using online methods of promotion and community-building, and he thought he could bring his parents' tasty recipe to the people. So it's probably not a surprise that the best way to up with future Sataysfied appearances is via its Twitter feed.
Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'.
Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"
