Considering we live in artichoke country, many San Franciscans are only acquainted with the pickled variety, which we dump out of the jar to toss into pasta or, if we're really fancy, put on pizza. The days when dinner parties began with one giant artichoke per guest, to be peeled leaf by leaf and dipped in drawn butter or aїoli, are long gone ― too much work for everyone. What began more than three decades ago as a small-batch specialty beer made by a local beer hero has grown thunderously into perhaps the most cult-acclaimed craft beer style in America: the barleywine.
Fritz Maytag is the man to thank. He had just bought a beer factory in Potrero Hill called Anchor Brewing Company, but rather than give Americans more of the same wan lager they'd been drinking since the 1950s, Maytag took a breath, looked east, and traveled to England with two friends for an educational beer tour. It was 1975, an era when beer geeks were as yet unknown ― Maytag and his pals may have been the first on record, especially after their pilgrimage to the British countryside to sift through the figurative shadows and dust clods of England's lost beer styles. They drank in nameless pubs in far-off villages. Maytag knew what he was looking for: classic British beers, malt- and hop-heavy, brimming with flavor. To their disappointment, England's beer culture had gone the same way as America's ― into the mass-market realm of watery lagers fermented largely from cane and corn sugars.
Then, just days before Maytag had to return to America to start brewing, he came across the barleywine, a strong, malty ale, mild on the hops, and thick with caramel, butterscotch, and brandy flavors. It captured Maytag's imagination: He walked out of the pub with the recipe. Back home, he brewed his own rendition and named it Old Foghorn Barleywine Style Ale, the first of its kind in America. It was destined to become a classic.
Dine About Town, which starts up again Jan. 15-31, is on its tenth year. Ten years! The prix-fixe promotion was launched in the middle of the dot-com bust, and has only gained in popularity through a second boom and bust cycle. Even in the Groupon era, it remains beloved (with customers, if not waitstaff). More than a few participating restaurants pack their dining rooms in two of the deadest weeks of the year.
It's been a long road back to San Francisco for Southern Sandwich Co.'s Brett and Nathan Niebergall, who ran a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the Castro till the economy tanked. In June, the brothers rolled out Southern Sandwich Co., a food truck fixed in the Americana of Carolina pulled pork and fried chicken sandwiches ― they've spent more than six months selling on the Peninsula, while keeping an eye on finding a permanent place to park in downtown San Francisco. On Thursday, Southern Sandwich makes its longed-for S.F. debut at Off the Grid: UN Plaza.
Nathan Niebergall tells SFoodie Thursday's S.F. premiere is merely the first of regular OTG appearances for the next six months ― in fact, the second will be two days later, at OTG's McCoppin Hub Saturday truck pod. "It took us a little bit of time to get the paperwork done to sell in San Francisco," Niebergall says. But the months spent in Brisbane and Redwood City have allowed them to refine their menu, which includes 14-hour beef brisket, a new hickory-smoked chicken salad sandwich, and sides that include new potatoes deep-fried to order. "We kind of worked out the kinks," Niebergall says.
And remember, Thursday's Off the Grid also marks the debut of The Rib Whip, which promises to make UN Plaza a temporary locus of American road food.
Follow us on Twitter: @sfoodie. Contact me at John.Birdsall@SFWeekly.com
Trust us, SusieCakes needs no help when it comes to improving its cute creations, especially when it comes to the almighty twin virtues of being generous with sugar and butter. But, perhaps buoyed by all the current reports that pie is so, like, totally now, the California sweet shop is calling all amateur bakers to submit their pie recipes for its home baker contest in honor of National Pie Day, Jan. 22.
E-mail baked@susiecakesla.com to participate. The winner's creation will be sold at all six SusieCakes locations (including local outposts in San Francisco and Greenbrae) on Jan. 22. The bakery will also unveil details of a pie-of-the-month club that day.
SusieCakes: 2109 Chestnut (at Steiner), 474-2253.
Rosamunde Turns One
Where: Rosamunde Sausage Grill, 2832 Mission (at 24th St.), 970-9015
When: Tues., Jan. 18, 5-11 p.m.
Cost: Free admission; bring cash for food and drinks
The rundown: Rosamunde is rolling out a birthday party to celebrate its first year of business in the Mission. Owner/partner Josh Margolis tells SFoodie to expect a lot of beer specials, along with appetizer specials and sausage treats from Rosamunde Catering. "People can expect a fun time," says Margolis, noting that the restaurant's outdoor patio has heating.
Check out other upcoming events on SFoodie
Sure, we've all pretended to spill wine on an article of clothing, just to have an excuse to remove it at that crucial date moment. I used to call it my signature move: a little wine on the skirt and it simply must be removed before it stains, leaving me helpless in lace chonies. Like Jamie Foxx, I'd blam the wine, though that would be like Eve blaming the apple.
Food and beverage excuses are so common it's no surprise that a food and beverage capital like San Francisco would be home to the most absurdly despicable of all: the Twinkie defense. It turns out that Twinkies were never mentioned in Dan White's trial, nor were they actually blamed for the murders of George Moscone and Harvey Milk, but the term has become a catchword for the most ridiculous excuses.
Today, excuses like the Twinkie Defense are far from outlandish. We've seen people blame fasting for groping and too much caffeine for murder. Food seems to be the go-to for trouble these days. Recently, a Florida man was allegedly masturbating on a plane from Salt Lake City to Lewiston, Idaho, causing his neighbor, a 17-year-old-girl, to switch seats and notify the flight attendants. When police questioned him after the plane landed, he said he'd spilled Tabasco sauce on his crotch and was trying to get it off. The man was arrested after being caught, but not red handed, since no Tabasco sauce was found.
For those excited to warm up for next month's impending beer-and-food-pairing onslaught courtesy of SF Beer Week, hold onto your hats. The remainder of this month brings three beer dinners, all showcasing distinct culinary and beer-making points of view.
If you're looking for an immediate beer dinner fix (along with a magical school bus ride back to elementary school), check out tomorrow night's "Cafebeeria Dinner" at Social Kitchen and Brewery. For the sixth dinner in its monthly Brewmaster's Dinner Series, the brewpub will be donning lunch-lady hairnets and rolling out high-scale reimagined cafeteria grub paired with the house brews of master cicerone Rich Higgins.
Brewmaster's Dinner VI: "Cafebeeria"
Where: Social Kitchen and Brewery, 1326 Ninth Ave. (at Irving), 681-0330
When: Wed., Jan. 12
Cost: $30 ― includes food, brews, and a hefty dose of nostalgia. Let's just hope the schoolyard bullies don't steal your lunch money.
Highlights: "Fruit salad," orange and pomelo with apple chips and kölsch vinaigrette, paired with Social Kölsch; "mystery meat Sloppy Joe," ground beef or house-made brewer's malt "tofu" on a brioche bun, paired with Old Time Alt; "mac and cheese," goat cheese ice cream with toasted macaroni-and-honey clusters, paired with Rapscallion Belgian Golden Ale
For a straight woman, dating can be quite difficult in San Francisco ― a girl's likely to end up so bitter all she wants to do is go to a bar and indulge in a pickle plate and a sour drink. Bar Agricole's whiskey and traditional sours meet the second part of that need beautifully, but the pickle plate is simply not up to par. Comstock's "barkeep's whimsy" ― with parameters of citrus and bitters ― is fantastic, and the pickle plate (which kicks all other local pickle plates' assess) is now off the menu, but you can probably talk the kitchen into plating one up if you deploy a little sweet talk.
Remember Wooly Pig Cafe (205 Hugo, at Second Ave.), that papered-over space in the Inner Sunset that SFoodie spotted a few months ago? It opened this weekend serving sandwiches, salads, and in the future, brunch. Claudine Co tweeted a photo of the owners' welcome-to-the-neighborhood letter.
Also spotted on our way to work: the post-renovation reopening of the Haight Street Tikka Masala (1668 Haight, 626-1576, tikkamasalasf.com). The pitch: Pakistani and Americanized Indian food.
