Five months after debuting at Off the Grid, mobile java vendor Curbside Coffee has a permanent spot Downtown. In Rincon Hill, actually, that place where the Financial District merges with SOMA. The Rincon Hill blog broke the news today that Curbside has a stretch of dedicated curb space at Folsom and Spear streets, near insanely popular Los Compadres taco truck, weekdays from 7:30 a.m. till about 2 p.m.
Jordan Greene, Curbside's owner (with Phil Nguyen), was a one-time corporate guy for Peet's. Greene and Nguyen use beans from San Rafael roaster Weaver's, begun by Peet's prodigy John Weaver; though Curbside's specialty is cà phê sua da, Vietnamese iced coffee. The Weaver's roasting style wouldn't necessarily fly in the Third Wave Mission, but Curbside should find a faithful fan base Downtown. Congratulations, guys.
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Just when we'd nearly given up on the idea of finding chocolate infused with medical cannabis that tastes better than the foil it's wrapped in, Oakland's Choco-Potamus has arrived to set the standard for artisan green confections. The use of real cocoa butter (rather than cheap fillers like coconut oil) gives it a taste that distinguishes it from the competition. Available in dark (sativa hybrid) and milk chocolate (indica/sativa hybrid) bars, the bars are made from cannabis buds rather than the typical shake and stems for a stronger high. Choco-Potamus products are available in San Francisco exclusively at SPARC. Accredited patients can receive online ordering information via the company site.
READ MORE: Report: Medical Marijuana Now Allowed In Airports
SFoodie's countdown of the 92 best things to eat and drink in San Francisco, 2011 edition.
Small, owlish Earl Darny does American baking like few pastry chefs in San Francisco: flaky, butter-crust pies with fruit he sources from Heart of the City farmers' market; spiral cinnamon rolls; plump layer cakes. But in the four years since Darny opened Lotta's Bakery, he's gotten almost exactly zero notice from the local food press.
Maybe it's because so much of what Darny bakes has the throwback feel of the well loved. "Nobody does stuff about you unless you're the hot ticket," Darny says in a matter-of-fact voice, and Lotta's ― which takes its name both from famed S.F. personality Lotta Crabtree and Darny's drag alter ego, Lotta Lust ― is definitely not the hot ticket. The dominant color here is a grandma shade of cake-box pink. And because Darny shares the place with Sweet Antiques, which belongs to his life partner, Richard Pullano, one side of the room is crammed with shiny Deco toasters, a sleek ceramic panther from the 1940s, and scores of other vintage chotchkes.
Darny's amazing blackstrap molasses gingerbread, too, is grounded in the past. The recipe comes from alpha blogger David Lebovitz, who developed it when he was pastry chef at long-defunct Monsoon. The inch-and-a-half slabs Darny cuts from the loaf are sticky and black, minutely whiskery with fresh ginger fibers, and with a snarly, nearly smoky taste of the blackstrap, the dregs of the sugar-refining process. The thing is almost savage in its depth of flavor and the dankness of its crumb, served up in the city's frilliest pastry shop.
Lotta's Bakery: 1720 Polk (at Clay), 359-9039.
Jungle Love
Where: Conservatory of Flowers, 100 JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park, 831-2090
When: Wed., Feb. 9, 6-9 p.m.
Cost: $5
The rundown: Bryan Hermannsson and Patrick M. Horn, the smiley beardos behind Pacific Brewing Laboratories, spend countless hours tinkering and toiling in their nanobrewery on Clara Street in SOMA. Every other Thursday, they open up the labs and release wee batches to the masses, usually paired with some choice nosh. Just to mess with your head this week, they're switching up the day and location of the tasting, hauling their kegs to the Conservatory of Flowers on Wednesday night. As if beer and flora weren't enough, this low-key romantic event offers a bit of everything, including live jazz, ever-popular fridge decorator Magnolia Photo Booth, poems-on-demand, and more. There will also be a cash bar and tastings of Al Gore's favorite wine. Just try not to trample the tulips.
With technical glitches resolved, SFoodie is finally able to present a few more Chinese New Year banquet menus we collected in Chinatown before the Year of the Rabbit began. Many thanks to Adobo Hobo's Ed Chui and his parents for doing the translations.
Two pro-kitchen newbies are taking over food service at the Mission's proto-Irish bar Clooney's, dubbing themselves The Galley. Business partners Justin Navarro and Kevin Morin took over the Clooney's kitchen at the beginning of January, and have been doing construction in the space. "We've been taking down shelves, reorganizing things, and doing cleaning," Navarro tells SFoodie. "Lots and lots of cleaning."
Taking over the kitchen? Like SFoodie, you may have been clueless that Clooney's even had one. "Calling it 'underused' is an understatement," Navarro tells SFoodie. Clooney's owner Dan Lyons told Navarro and Morin they could do pretty much whatever they wanted in the kitchen. They've tried to make it as functional as a ship's galley, which, of course, inspired the name.
Cognac for Beginners
Where: The Boothby Center for the Beverage Arts, 1161 Mission (at Eighth St.), Ste. 120
When: Wed., Feb. 9, 6-7:30 p.m.
Cost: $20
The rundown: For most of us, Cognac is the elegant old French guy of the spirits world, asleep in a worn-out recliner, glass in one hand, pipe in the other. Cognac's comeback is overdue, though it'll first have to overcome the glitz of new-product marketing, not to mention the strange and often confusing categories it falls into. There's no better time to learn the difference between "VS" and "Hors d'Age" than at tomorrow's "Cognac for Beginners" class at The Boothby Center. It's taught by renowned spirits experts Steven Olson, Andy Seymour, and Leo DeGroff (of Beverage Alcohol Resource). These guys, who usually spend their time putting together educational seminars for bartenders, know their stuff, and the Boothby class (with tasting) will cover the history of the spirit, break down the differences between styles and classifications, and explore the geography, regions, soils, and climate of the French region where Cognac is produced. Also included: an exploration of Cognac in cocktails both modern and classic.
Tickets available via Eventbrite
Outside the Lines
Where: The Summit, 780 Valencia (at 19th St.), 861-5330
When: Mon., Feb. 14, 7 p.m.
Cost: $100 (includes tax and service); a portion of the proceeds is slated for The Food Pantry
The rundown: We're a city that likes the notion rule-breaking, going off the grid, scratching out little charmed circles of realness. Beer and food pairings get the oh-no-they-din't treatment Monday at The Summit, where in an event keyed to SF Beer Week, house chef Eddie Lau teams up with Beer and Nosh blogger Jesse Friedman from Almanac Beer Co. in a carbonated display of rule-breaking: beers from a variety of brewers that diverge from standard styles, matched up with food that aims to surprise. In case you're keeping track, this will be Almanac's first beer dinner, and brewers from other featured beers will be on hand to discuss.
Menu highlights: Scallop, ale-carbonated citrus, and turnip with Alamanac's Summer 2010 Blackberry Ale; vadouvan short rib with wild mushrooms and French lentils with SF Beer Week Collaborative Bourbon Barrel Common; foie torchon with duck-egg sabayon with Firehouse Brerwing Retribution Double IPA
Tickets available at Beer and Nosh
My word! San Francisco is becoming overrun peppered with BBQ joints ― restaurants, bars, several smoker trucks. Now Grub Street spots a liquor-license application for Southpaw BBQ (2170 Mission), which will take over the Hong Kong Express Cafe. The pitch: self-evident.
Eater reports that Craw Station (1336 Ninth Ave., 682-9980, crawstation.com) will be opening on [UPDATE] sometime after Valentine's Day, which means it should be up and running by the time peak season hits in late spring. The pitch: Vietnamese-Cajun crawfish and fried seafood.
Inside Scoop says that Slanted Door wine director Paul Einbund is leaving after only six months on the job, ceding his place to current sommelier Chaylee Priete. Einbund will continue to be wine director for Frances.
