Highlights from the blog this week:
1. John Birdsall gets an update on the coming Hayes Valley Proxy project, a shipping-container food complex. It may be a few months behind schedule but has added a few interesting twists ― notably, a semipermanent space for temporary restaurants, à la Mission Street Food and L.A'.s Test Kitchen.
2. There are neighborhoods I used to refuse to go to for fear of being caught exhausted with no source for a proper macchiato. No more: I downloaded Blue Crow Media's independent coffee shop locator app and learned about three new San Francisco cafes in the FiDi and Cow Hollow.
FiDi office workers were glad this week to see the debut of cozy restaurant Quattro Stagioni ("four seasons" in Italian), after the area's numerous closures of last year. The lure: made-to-order pizzas and pastas ($12-$14) with high quality ingredients, a cut above the budget menu of former tenant Pasta Paradiso.
Quick pizza turnaround comes from Quattro Stagioni's Wood Stone gas- and coal-fired oven, a smaller model than the one at Tony's Coal-Fired Pizza and Slice House. The manager here told us that the 12-inch thin-crust pizzas, made with 00 flour, take only 7 minutes to cook.
The menu also includes appetizers, salads, sandwiches (lunch only), secondi (all meat entrees), and a couple of desserts. We were tempted to order the eponymous quattro stagioni pizza ($14), tomato and mozzarella plus prosciutto, mushrooms, olives, and artichoke hearts, each representing a season. But we opted to check the kitchen's skills with the special of the day, veal cannelloni ($12.95) ― egg pasta sheets rolled around ground veal with spinach, mushrooms, herbs, and Parmesan, topped with rich béchamel and fresh tomato sauces. (Note that the pastas come in European-style portions.) We weren't disappointed: The cannelloni were flavorful but not heavy. We polished off every bit, scooping up the last of the sauce with our rolls.
Friday through Sunday, the area's tastiest happenings.
Fri., Jan. 7:
Food Truck Rally in Napa
Oxbow Public Market, 728 First St. (at McKinstry), Napa; 5 p.m.-midnight
The second installment of the first Friday food truck event in Oxbow's parking lot: Spencer on the Go, Dim Sum Charlie's, Mark's the Spot, Cochon Volant Flying Pig BBQ, and more. Complete description here.
Sat., Jan. 8:
The Return of Off the Grid: McCoppin Hub
McCoppin at Valenca; 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Back for the first time in 2011, with a new look and extended hours: Eat Curbside (10 a.m.-9 p.m.), El Norteño (10 a.m.-2 p.m.), Seoul on Wheels (12:30-5:30 p.m.), Hapa SF (12:30-5:30 p.m.), 3-Sum Eats: (4:30-9 p.m.), and Creme Brulee Cart (6-8 p.m.). Complete description here.
Science of Cocktails is headed back to the Exploratorium, with a brilliant blend of drinks both educational and potent.
Between hors d'oeuvres stations, bartenders and Exploratorium scientists will demonstrate the chemistry, physics, and biology of alcohol as you sip cocktail examples. Last year's event was a perfect blend of party and learning, without making you feel like you were being tricked into something, unlike the time your mom switched out the chocolate chips for carob in the cookies.
Expect the usual Exploratorium exhibits to be open, along with themed experiments and presentations on shaking versus stirring, standard and Japanese hard-shake techniques, perfume-making techniques in infusions, and how flaming citrus oils over a drink changes the flavor. A favorite demo from last year on the pousse-café, a fantastically layered drink and a lesson on the specific gravity of liquids, returns for an encore performance.
We never thought we'd find anything classy to sip in the belly of the 11th Street club corridor, but luckily Bar Agricole has corrected that notion. It's got one of the more frequently changing cocktail menus in town, but we're told the popular Traditional Sour tends to stick around. While we're used to some sort of added sugary ingredient in a sour, the use of a highland tequila (blended with lemon and egg white) yields a sweet, supersmooth result that doesn't need a dousing of anything else to be just right. On a table covered with quality drinks, this stood out as the star.
Bar Agricole: 355 11th St. (at Folsom), 355-9400.
Word of advice: If you want a double chocolate cupcake from the CupKates truck, get in line within an hour after it opens.
Double chocolate was the first to sell out by 12:50 p.m. today at Off the Grid: Civic Center. Mulling options? Red velvet is better than peanut butter chocolate (all cupcakes $3). Frosting is done with a heavy hand, which looks pretty but can prove unwieldy in the great outdoors.
Outgoing supe Chris Daly was seen rushing past the Off the Grid trucks, but didn't get in line in for cupcakes or any other grub. Pity!
artisan and the novelty.
Source:
Royal Market and Bakery, 5335 Geary (at 17th Ave.), 221-5550
Price: $0.75 (puri), $1.25 (matnakash)
Toast-appropriateness: 1/10
Mission Hen Party
When: Thu., Feb. 10, 6-8 p.m.
Where: Women's Building, Audre Lorde Room, 3543 18th St. (at Valencia)
Cost: $41; sliding-scale pricing available - e-mail registration@urbankitchensf.org for details
The rundown: First installment of a two-part Urban Kitchen SF class led by Nicole Kramer of FARMcurious. You'll meet a real, live urban chicken, sample backyard vs. supermarket eggs, and get acquainted with the equipment you'll need to get started. You'll walk away with your very own ceramic egg tray, too. Then on Sun., Feb 13, class members are invited to take a free walk-through of Kramer's coop in Oakland.
Tickets: Purchase via Eventbrite
Check out other upcoming events on SFoodie
SFoodie's roundup of tips, news, and rants from the week in animal-free eats.
• The SF Vegan Bakesale is BACK! After being rained out in December, the vegan deliciousness is back for another go! So far, sunny skies are predicted for Jan. 15, so let's all go and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat ad infinitum.
• Mother Jones pissed off the vegans royally this week by publishing an incredibly whack interview about the owners of Beast in Portland, a restaurant that serves meat almost exclusively. The really offensive part, though, was the editors tweeting about vegans being up in arms about the article. NO DOY. I wrote a response on Vegansaurus because I was STEAMED! I love that the only critique I've heard so far from Mother Jones and her village idiots is typical finger-wagging over use of the word "gaywad." Ladies, I'm a total gaywad so you can't hurt me with that, I embrace it! Just like you dumb-dumbs should embrace vegans as your natural allies and stop trying to sit at the cool kids' table. Not gonna happen.
• Vegan Pizza Day is coming. Are you ready? Because on Jan. 29, so much vegan pizza is gonna be consumed and we're all gonna be the fattest best. I can't wait!
After a few bites of the savory cumin lamb hand-pulled noodles ($6) at Xi'an Famous Foods in New York's Chinatown, it became clear why Danny Bowien had sent us here.
Our chile oil-soaked lips had reddened and plumped like they were fresh from a collagen session, and our tongue had that prickly sensation we recalled from many meals at Bowien's Mission Chinese Food. This was a Bowien-style dish through and through: in your face, put up or shut up. We put up and were rewarded with one of the best things we put in our mouths all year.
We also loved the stewed pork burger ($2.50), moist shreds of pork bathed in a sweet, vinegary sauce and scooped into a halved, bao-style soft bun ― we could have been at some roadside barbecue stand in North Carolina.
Xi'an Famous was the first stop on what we started calling "the Bowien Chinatown tour." Over lunch at Mission Chinese Food last month, Bowien overheard our intense New York planning discussion and began offering up his favorites (the chef once worked in New York). Needless to say, we scribbled diligently (well, took notes on an iPhone), then set aside a chunk of time in New York over Christmas to explore.
