SFoodie's countdown of the 92 best things to eat and drink in San Francisco, 2011 edition.
The champurrado here has its fans. It's sweet and hot ― kept that way in an insulated five-gallon coffee server from which you help yourself ― thickened old school with rice flour, not cornstarch, which gives it a nice, claggy weight. The cooks flavor it with the ubiquitous Mexican sweet chocolate, Ibarra. Good, but not nearly as good as La Oaxaqueña's hot chocolate. That's made from blocks of Oaxacan chocolate the owner, Albino Carreno, hauls back from either Oaxaca City or Ocotlán, sources of other ingredients for the restaurant (chapulines, dark mole paste).
The 20-pound blocks of cacao de Oaxaca get pulverized in La Oaxaqueña's kitchen, mixed with ground almonds and cinnamon. It's dissolved in milk to order, then heated and frothed with the steam wand of the espresso machine ― not the brooding, bittersweet sort of chocolate you sip like strong coffee, but something light and milky, all cinnamon perfume and a delicious toffee sweetness we suspect comes from the raw sugar in the cacao block. For an extra 35 cents you can get it spiked with guajillo chile powder ― invigorating in the way that makes the insides of your lips sting, except that it blots out the subtler taste of caramelized sugars that weave through this chocolate like embroidery.
Valen-Times-Two
Where: A16, 2355 Chestnut (at Scott), 771-2216
When: Mon., Feb. 14
Cost: $80 for five courses; $56 extra for optional wine pairings
Why it's likely to be special: New chef David Taylor's Southern(-ish) Italian menu is not only calibrated to make your partner forget, uh, that, it's also designed to celebrate the restaurant's 7-year anniversary, a milestone arguably momentous enough to make your partner forgive, too ― especially if you spring for wine.
Menu highlights: Baccala alla Napoletana; Alba mushroom, leek, olio nuovo, and ricotta pizetta; duck leg alla Genovese with chestnut polenta; coconut cake with ricotta mousse and roasted pineapple
Reserve via OpenTable
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So not to dwell on one bad moment in a good meal, but I wanted to address the incident that happened at the end of my last dinner at Seven Hills:
Ten minutes after signing the check, as our conversation was winding down, the waiter leaned over. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "but my boss asked me to tell you that we have another reservation waiting. Would it be possible to leave?" We filed out, shaking our heads.As far as I'm concerned, a great meal doesn't end with the signing of the check, it ends with everyone at the table sitting around, letting the conversation die off, feeling flushed and contented. (And frankly, that often takes more than 10 minutes, especially if you've spent some cash and made a night of it.) As a restaurateur, how you say good-bye to your guests is more important than how often you pour water or change the silverware, since it's the last thing they remember of your restaurant. But small restaurants also need to turn tables to survive. So how do you get customers out of their seats?
This week, I reviewed Seven Hills in Russian Hill, which is a neighborhood designed to become an instant classic. The owners are Alexander Alioto and brother-in-law Alexis Solomou, who belong to the Alioto clan.
Alioto interned in kitchens in Italy and Germany, including a couple of Michelin two-stars. In Sicily, he worked at a cousin's restaurant (he told me he met his entire extended family in one very long afternoon). Farther north, he interned at San Domenico, then, back home, at the French Laundry before working at the San Francisco Ritz-Carlton.
It was clear from both the precision of the cooking and the classic
dishes on the menu ― sweetbread and frisee salad, a very good carbonara, lots of meats with reduction sauces ― that Alioto has done time at some very good restaurants. Rather than follow the experimentalists down their twisty, unfamiliar paths, he's trying to find a way to scale his high-end experience down and focus on using seasonal, local ingredients. It's a great fit for Russian Hill.
After last week's encounter with an angry restaurant owner, Jay Hamada didn't park his JapaCurry truck on Second Street on Monday and Tuesday. Instead, Hamada submitted three new locations yesterday to Alfreddie Steward, the Police Department's administrative permit officer. Hamada tells SFoodie the curbside spaces are at 110 California (at Davis), 210 Sansome (at Pine), and 45 Fremont (at Mission). Hamada says he made sure there are no restaurants near the spots he's proposed, except at 45 Fremont, which is in sight of a Noah's Bagels (99 Fremont), Lee's Deli (95 Fremont), and the Power Source Juice Bar (81 Fremont). "I'm sure there's no competition there," Hamada says.
Hamada says he's had no further communication from Harvest and Rowe's Alison Rowe after her Jan. 19 letter complaining to city officials of JapaCurry's permit to park on Second Street. And the only person from the city he's heard from is Regina Dick-Endrizzi, director of the city's Office of Small Business, who told Hamada she'd help him move to a new location, and that he wouldn't have to pay a new $10,000 application fee.
BioFuel Oasis may sound like opaque corporate doublespeak (see: Deepwater Horizon), but it's actually one of the happiest little co-ops in the Bay Area. Founded in 2003, this five-person Berkeley operation specializes in making ever-useful biodiesel fuel from recycled vegetable oil. More important for you, oh aspiring DIY-er, is the host of affordable classes BioFuel Oasis is hosting in 2011.
With offerings ranging from Backyard Goats to Sourdough Cultivation, these classes are a hot commodity for anyone interested in city farming and food cultivation. So hot, in fact, that they've been filling up in a Berkeley minute. This weekend's offerings, Backyard Beekeeping and Urban Fruit Trees, are already at capacity* but here is your chance to sign up for future classes before it's too late. Still available:
SF Cupcake Challenge
Where: Mezzanine, 444 Jessie (at Mint Plaza), 625-8880
When: Sun., Mar. 6, 1-4 p.m.
Cost: $40
The rundown: In a big nightclub accustomed to nocturnal events, civilian cupcake lovers will join a media panel (including yours truly) to taste up to 15 specimens from local bakeries, including Mission Minis, Cups and Cakes, Fat Bottom Bakery, and That Takes The Cake. Judges are tasked with crowning two winners, both a people's choice and the judges' favorite. Unlike other local cupcake contests, this one is open to baking pros only, saving tasters from the horror of encountering anything truly scary.
Tickets: Purchase online via Eventbrite
Check out other upcoming events on SFoodie
Rule of thumb: If asked to sit on the judging panel of a cocktail competition, don't hesitate to accept the invitation. This blogger recently had the honor of helping spirits scholars Camper English and Aaron Smith (owner, 15 Romolo) judge the 42Below Cocktail World Cup regional finals. Our task was to pick two cocktail-slinging competitors from a field of 10 hopefuls. Those two will then compete in the national finals in New York City, and from there three winners will compete as Team U.S.A. in a week-long competition in New Zealand (envision a far boozier Olympic Village).
All contestants for the S.F. regionals had to incorporate one of the myriad 42Below vodkas in their cocktail entry, along with other spirits and homespun additions. One theme throughout the night was the use of honey-flavored vodka, which offered a bee sting of sweetness while preserving the dryness of the finished drinks. Recipes highlighted the DIY tendencies of S.F.'s bartending scene, with ingredients such as homemade lavender-ginger reduction, toasted coconut-infused sherry, and cocoa-nib turbinado syrup.
Animal Style
Where: Epic Roasthouse, 369 Embarcadero (at Folsom), 369-9955
When: Mon., Feb. 14
Cost: $85 for four courses; $55 extra for optional wine pairings
Why it's likely to be special: Nothing's more carnal than meat, and executive chef Jan Birnbaum has worked out a Valentine's menu packed with so many different animals it's palpably lusty.
Menu highlights: Tuna tartare with passion fruit vinaigrette; fried ouster "BLT" on toasted brioche; tenderloin of venison with confit and pink peppercorn sauce; roasted Angus prime rib; rhubarb-strawberry tart with crème fraiche sherbet
Reserve at reservations@epicroasthouse.com, or call 369-9955
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A new series that urges SFoodie readers to get their butts out of the Mission. For a couple hours anyway.
It may sound strange, but Japanese-style Chinese food (known as "Chuka Ryori") is one of the most popular cuisines in Japan. Over time many Chinese dishes have been incorporated into Japanese cuisine: ramen, gyoza (pot stickers), chahan (fried rice), yakisoba (stir-fried noodles), and mabo (or mapo) tofu.
The first Chuka Ryori restaurant outside the South Bay is currently attracting hordes of Japanese expats. Yu-Raku opened near downtown San Mateo late last year, in the space once occupied by Kaimuki Sushi and Grill. (The only other Bay Area Chuka Ryori is Hana in San Jose, which specializes in handmade dumplings and noodles.) What to expect from Chuka Ryori? No MSG, no black bean sauce, and compared to local Chinese restaurants, a bit of sticker shock. In truth, prices here are moderate, but many of us have been spoiled by the Bay Area's bargain prices, unaware that Chinese food can command a premium in other cities.
Yu-Raku's menu includes about two dozen appetizers and side dishes, a few salads, fried rice, donburi, and a dozen ramen featuring house-made noodles ($8-$12.50) with a choice of many extra toppings ($1-$4). Ramen fans' favorite, buta no kakuni (braised pork belly), is available both as an appetizer ($9) and a ramen topping ($4). SFoodie had fun searching the menu to see how many popular dishes we could recognize, like sweet and sour pork (subuta, $9.50), and veggie egg rolls (harumaki, $6.50). The signature dish here is probably the Yu-Raku chahan ($9.50), pork fried rice with snow crab sauce.
