Craving more? Scroll through additional listings here.
Fri., Mar. 4:
Castro Booze Crawl for the Trevor Project
Starts at SF Badlands, 4121 18th St (at Castro), 6 p.m.
On Friday, 13 bars and restaurants in the Castro and Upper Market will give a percentage of their sales to the Trevor Project, a national organization that aims to prevent suicide among queer youth. Complete description here.
Sat., Mar. 5:
Cocktails 101: St. George Spirits
Ferry Building Marketplace, CUESA Dacor Teaching Kitchen, 1 Ferry Building (at Embarcadero), 2-4 p.m.
Powerhouse distiller Lance Winters of St. George Spirits will team up with Spoonbar's Scott Beattie to show you how to shake, strain, and stir your way to mixo-mastery. Complete description here.
The Inner Sunset's Arizmendi Bakery appears to be on its way to getting a parklet all its own. Yesterday's public hearing before two officials in the Department of Public Works saw some 15 neighborhood residents (out of about 20 in attendance) speaking out for the sliver of public green space, and four speaking against, says parklet advocate Adam Greenfield. Next step, Greenfield says, is for DPW to get the Fire Department to sign off on the plans, and then the agency will make a final decision. Greenfield, who's on the board of Inner Sunset Park Neighbors, helped conduct a petition drive in favor. "If a thousand signatures and 36 businesses aren't enough, I'd be very surprised," Greenfield says. Though the mini park will be a public commons, Arizmendi has pledged to serve as host.
Follow us on Twitter: @sfoodie, and like us on Facebook. Contact me at John.Birdsall@SFWeekly.com
Kim Severson and Spoon Fed
Where: Omnivore Books on Food, 3885a Cesar Chavez (at Church), 282-4712
When: Tonight, Mar. 3, 6-7 p.m.
Cost: Free
The rundown: It's no secret that reporter and author Kim Severson has a crush on San Francisco. After moving from the Chronicle to the New York Times, she gushed to SFoodie about being attracted to New York's "gorgeous younger sister." That must be why she can't stay away. On the heels of last night's discussion with Chad Robertson and Sue Conley, Severson heads to Omnivore Books to read from her idol-worship food memoir, Spoon Fed. Seeing as how she did this very same event last year, we're thinking she really wants to move back. Maybe you should stop first and get her a burrito from Papalote to help seal the deal.
There's none of the egginess to to the flan's flavor, of course, but as it melts on the tongue a gentle vanilla note emerges. It's followed by the deeper, bolder aroma of caramelized sugar, which crescendoes just to the point of tasting burned, stopping just before it becomes bitter. So, sure, the first time you order the flan may be just to inspect its construction or replace a dish you'd given up. The second time you order it, though, there's no thought of comparing the flan to anything but itself.
Gracias Madre: 2211 Mission (at 18th St.), 683-1346.
Festa Della Donna
Where: A16, 2355 Chestnut (at Scott), 771-2216
When: Tue., Mar. 8, 5:30-10 p.m.
Cost: A la carte pricing
The rundown: In honor of International Women's Day, a multinational she's-she of female wine and food talent is assembling at A16 for a fundraiser to boost the coffers of La Cocina, S.F.'s incubator for women-owned food businesses. Expect Boston chef Barbara Lynch, Andante Dairy's Soyoung Scanlan, Italian scribe Dacia Maraini, Bacchant Wines' Sara Floyd, and importer Martine Saunier. Also, winemakers Pam Starr, Laely Heron, Morgan Clendenen, and Cecilia Naldoni Piccin. They'll join A16's Shelley Lindgren and chef David Taylor in serving up special a la carte dishes (on top of A16's regular menu) and wine pairings, with all profits going to La Cocina. One thing: Non-males might want to hit the potty before leaving the house ― the line for the women's room is likely to be brutal. Just brutal.
Reservations via OpenTable, or call 771-2216; a third of the dining room will be left open for walk-ins
Whole Hog Dinners
Where: Oliveto, 5655 College (at Shafter), 510-547-5356
When: Wed., Mar. 9-Sat., Mar. 12
Cost: A la carte prices approximately $9-$28 per dish
The rundown: Oliveto's yearly head-to-tail series is a touchstone. When the dinners launched early last decade, whole-beast cooking was rare enough to attract national press. In recent years ― when in-house butchery has invaded even neighborhood bistros ― Whole Hog has taken on the feel of fan appreciation nights for Oliveto regulars. This year, though, there's new blood in the form of chef Jonah Rhodehamel, who's replaced Paul Canales. Rhodehamel's pledged to keep Whole Hog favorites intact (choucroute garni, smoked and brined cuts, chops, meatballs, offal, braises, long-aged prosciuttos, and myriad salumis) while trotting out something new ― a whole wood-oven roasted pig, one from a different ranch each night. The Whole Hog hardcore will want to tick all four off their menu cards.
Reservations via OpenTable, or call 510-547-5356
When Joe's Ice Cream moved across Geary Street last summer after 51 years in business, the last thing we thought we'd see in the old space is a shop selling ice cream. But that seems to be one of the featured foods at the new Sweet Days, which opened last week and is carrying Swensen's along with a basic menu of deli-style sandwiches. But with both Joe's and the relatively new Na Ya Dessert House (which scoops Mitchell's) across the street, this cafe is probably going to have to shine with the sandwiches or think of something else in order to survive.
Sweet Days: 5351 Geary (at 18th Ave.).
Since our attention span for following recipes (or anything, really) has only shortened since we ran our Twitter-Size Recipes column a couple years ago, we thought it might be time to resurrect our challenge to local chefs to distill one of their recipes into 140 characters or less.
Lori Baker of Baker and Banker Bakery was first to step up to the dessert plate with a recipe for fudge frosting that looks so easy, we're thinking about sneaking off to the kitchen to make it right now ― though it's safe to say we don't think we can follow Baker's "sit overnight" part.
Lori Baker's Fudge Frosting
2 c. cream, 2 c. sugar, 8 oz. choc, 8 oz. butter. Boil cream and sugar 5 min, pour over choc and butter, whisk, sit overnight
Last month saw more transitions than a Bath Crashers marathon, as restaurants closed ― uh, temporarily ― to spruce up, reconcept, or otherwise dramatically cut payroll during the slowest month of the year, in the hope of opening up again when we're all in the mood to leave the house.
Openings
• Campanula: 701 Union (at Powell)
• Caña on Lake Merritt: 530 Lake Park (at Rand) Oakland
• Homeroom: 400 40th St. (at Shafter), Oakland
• Palmyra: 700 Haight (at Pierce)
• Plate Shop: 39 Caledonia (at Johnson), Sausalito
• Sneaky's BBQ at Rebel: 1760 Market (at Octavia)
Additional openings
• The Galley at Clooney's Irish Pub: 1401 Valencia (at 25th St.)
• Hyde Away Blues BBQ: 457 Hyde (at O'Farrell)
• My Ivy: 1901 Divisadero (at Pine)
• Papi's Fusion Deli: 2348 Mission (at 19th St.)
• Sol Food La Bodega: 903 Lincoln (at Third St.), San Rafael
• Southie: 6311 College (at 63rd St.), Oakland
Last night's episode of Top Chef: All-Stars marked the end of the New York challenges. Why not leave New York the same way so many came in? We're talking Ellis Island. For the Quickfire Challenge, the cheftestants had to make a dish from ingredients in a ferry's snack bar. Time limit: the ferry ride from Manhattan to Ellis Island, foghorn to foghorn.
The guest judge was Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill. That's right, the man known for local and organic would be tasting creations based on processed snack-bar food. Richard had these military MRE bags to cook his hot dogs and turned them into banh mi, complete with beef jerky, jalapenos (from the nacho station!), pork rinds, lettuce, and apple. Damn, that guy is clever. He mocked Carla for slicing oranges and Antonia for switching the bread and cheese from two pre-packaged sandwiches and then ― wait for it ― toasting it. Too bad life, like Top Chef, just isn't fair. Carla's sliced oranges won the challenge for their carrot and rosemary juice. We're just glad it wasn't Mike's disgusting hot-dog-bun-and-sour-cream soup that he said he wouldn't even feed to his cat.
The Elimination Challenge yanked on every heartstring, as the cheftestants created a dish based on their ancestry. Cue Ellis Island in the background, a leather-bound book with each chef's family history compiled by a genealogist, and a visit from the tired cheftestants' families. Add your own waterworks, and voila. (Sshhh, don't tell, but we heard it made SFoodie's favorite punk domestic, Sean Timberlake, cry.)
