Our favorite morsel from the blogs.
So Blue Bottle won't be driving its Third Wave trailer into Dolores Park after all. James Freeman told us whatever benefit the company could scrape together from setting up in the park would be more than obliterated the shitstorm that's brewed for more than six weeks now (we paraphrase). Opponents like Stephen Elliott suggest parks are no place for commercial activity; we don't entirely agree. Sure, nobody wants city green space overrun with dreck shacks hawking kitty keychains, Wharf-grade T-shirts, or Whoppers. But parks are already sites of commercial activity, which is exactly how it should be. Back in the '90s, we spoke before the Rec and Parks Commission in support of bringing a farmers' market to the Panhandle. We lost, though the strip of pavement where farmers would have set up was already doing a healthy black market trade in paletas, sticky bud, and homemade tamales.
That's as it should have been. Good parks offer delights that go beyond the feeling of wet sneakers in the grass, or the sigh of wind in cypress trees.
Thanksgiving's a month away! Next week at Berkeley's Café Rouge, meat guru Bill Niman holds forth on heritage turkeys, a specialty of the BN Ranch company he founded with his wife, Nicolette Hahn Niman. Actually, the event's a heritage poultry-centric butchery class, including a discussion with Café Rouge lead butcher Scott Brennan, executive chef Rick DeBeaord, and chef/owner Marsha McBride. Julie Johnson, owner of organic vineyard Tres Sabores, talks about the guinea fowl she raises and sells, "just in time for the holidays," with secrets of brining, boning, braising, rendering, roasting, and carving. Eats are included, with a seasonal-sounding menu of grilled squab breast salad, braised guinea hen with pumpkin and dried figs, cassoulet, and roast turkey, both brined and not. Wine tastes from Tres Sabores too.
Poultry Butchery Class at Café Rouge
When: Mon., Oct. 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Café Rouge, 1782 Fourth St. (at Hearst), Berkeley)
Cost: $65
Tickets: Purchase through OpenTable, or call Café Rouge directly at 510-525-1440 after 10 a.m.
Do you ever drive past a sign so often that eventually the sign commands you to obey it? That was us and the buffalo stew mural on the side of the 63-year-old
Tommy's Joynt, which finally worked its magic and drew us in for a bowl this weekend.
Tommy's has been operated by the same family since it opened in 1947. Mind you, the last time we were in this particular building, neon, ginormous boomboxes, and side ponytails were making their first appearances in the world. But it felt like we hadn't missed a beat as we stepped even further back in time.
UPDATE: Rec and Park comments on Blue Bottle's decision, La Cocina says it still has plans to launch its cart.
It looks like opponents of a Blue Bottle coffee trailer in Dolores Park have gotten their wish. Blue Bottle's James Freeman tells SFoodie that there's a better than 90 percent chance that the company's plans for Dolores Park are dead.
"I wanted the cart to be charming and innocuous, and it was proving to be neither," says Freeman. "It's a shame, really. It's a little trailer ― it's not like we were planning a battery factory." Freeman says the company recently hired four baristas to work in Dolores Park, and one of his main concerns in ending his park plans was finding a place for the new hires in other Blue Bottle locations. Freeman says he's confident he can find a new home for the trailer, possibly in Oakland, site of Blue Bottle's roastery.
We confess to being cult devotees of the freshly made egg custard tarts at Golden Gate Bakery, so we felt compelled to investigate rumors that a relatively new bakery with egg-white tarts was garnering fans.
Chinatown's Yummy Bakery is making a good impression on locals for the high quality of its baked goods. Browse the display case to see which items need restocking, and you'll soon notice that the egg-white tarts ($1.10 each) are among the best sellers here. Egg-white tarts are common in Hong Kong; we know of only two other S.F. bakeries that occasionally offer them. Don't despair if you see only a few in Yummy's case. Knowing how popular they've become, the bakery often has surplus stock in back, delivered from its baking facilities in South San Francisco.
While obviously not as fresh-from-the-oven as the ones from GGB, the tarts here are well made (there are regular custard ones too). Egg white tarts are less forgiving when overcooked ― they can lose their suppleness, turn hard, and develop cracks. But soft fillings and crisp, flaky crusts made these comparable to the best egg-white tarts we've had anywhere, in a word, yummy.
Call it bittersweet. Mission deli Pal's Takeaway says goodbye to sidekick Dave Knopp tomorrow with a final Knopp creation, a pulled chicken sandwich with pepper gravy and house-pickled onions. Turns out Knopp cut back his involvement at Pal's weeks ago; he's following his wife to Washington DC, where she scored a job. Knopp's main contribution to Pal's was pickling, curing, and smoking ― he'd been a longtime presence in the kitchen at Hayes Street Grill and the Andante Dairy stall at farmers' markets. Pal's owner Jeff Mason calls Knopp a working investor, executive chef, and "erstwhile sidekick." He hasn't found a replacement, though Ryan Ostler has smoked whitefish for Mason in recent weeks. No doubt erstwhile sidekicks are harder to find on Craigslist.
Pal's Takeaway: Inside Tony's Market, 2751 24th St. (at Hampshire), 203-4911.
Follow us on Twitter: @sfoodie. Contact me at John.Birdsall@SFWeekly.com
We've been watching Top Chef Just Desserts religiously, and since Episode 1 we've been crushing hard on local pastry chef Yigit Pura. He's young, adorable, has an accent, and can bake, cream, and melt the most hardened among us. Last week he let Gail and the rest of us ladies down easy, saying if he played for our team he'd be making chocolate soufflés for us all the time like he does for his boyfriend.
But wait, it he gets better ...
Bar & Grill has added dinner service. Wednesday through Friday
nights, diners can sample a small selection of Chef Rafael Hernandez's
rib-sticking specialties.
Wednesday's menu features chicken parmigiana, a
lamb shank, or grilled salmon. Thursday's line-up is short ribs, prime
rib, and red snapper. And Friday's options consist of osso bucco,
chicken marsala, tilapia, and roast leg of lamb. All dinners come with a
choice of soup or a house salad and will run you $14 to $18. If you're
more in the mood for a few snacks along with your Anchor Steam,
Hernandez is serving up fried calamari ($7.99), chicken wings ($6.99)
and garlic fries ($5.99).
