Californians love their dirt. Like poets of yore writing ballads to the sea, near-mythological reverence is given to the earthy roots of our local produce. At last night's Dirt Dinner event, local gardeners gave an impassioned discussion of soil nutrients, baggies of dirt were passed from diner to diner, and Lisa Graciano sang an earnest ode to the "Seeds of Life." And following all this dirt worship came a five-course meal, using veggies sprouted from Kenney Cottage Garden's soil.
It was an evening as refreshing as it was familiar, channeling the long-ago days of the nascent Berkeley food movement. Chris and Veronica Laramie, chef/co-owners at eVe restaurant, prepared a hearty feast using just-harvested Kenney Cottage produce. Though the Laramies' fare typically skews modernist (an immersion circulator and a cold smoker hold prime real estate in eVe's kitchen), last night's meal was simple and rustic. "Typically we're closed on Sundays," said Chris. "This is the type of food we'd be eating at home."
Menu highlights included perfectly cooked spelt casarecce with onions, leeks, and oyster mushrooms; tender rosemary and fennel seed-roasted pork shoulder; a hearty soup of kale, onions, celery, and black eyed peas; and a lightly dressed salad made only of greens ("Nothing to distract you from the taste of the earth," Chris said."). Some menu items were switched at the last minute due to recent Berkeley hail; greens and carrots stole the spotlight from their less hardy garden companions.
Petaluma-based Tempus Fugit, maker of Gran Classico bitters and absinthes, has just released a 19th-century-style spirit, Liqueur de Violettes. The color's a natural blue-pink (from the violets it's made from, hand-harvested in the sunny Côte d'Azur). It was traditionally used with Champagne or in cocktails like the Aviation, until it fell out of favor. Often confused with Parfait Amour and Crème Yvette, which contain citrus, vanilla, and spices, the flavor here is more floral. If you like St. Germain, you'll love Liqueur de Violettes.
The formula is based on a mid-19th-century French recipe, and Tempus Fugit makes it in micro-batches. What makes it unusual is that this is a liqueur and not a crème. The difference is sugar: If you add enough sugar to a spirit (more than 2.5 percent in the U.S.), it becomes a liqueur; add a LOT of sugar to a spirit, and you get a crème (crème de menthe, crème de cacao, etc.).
With blossoms and spring fever arriving any day now, Liqueur de Violettes just might conjure a bouquet in a glass.
L'Aviation
Recipe courtesy of Scott Beattie of Spoonbar
1/2 oz Tempus Fugit Liqueur de Violettes
1/2 oz Maraschino liqueur
1 1/2 ozs Voyager or other fine, dry gin
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
Place ingredients and ice in a shaker and shake hard for 7 seconds. Double-strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with lemon peel.
For more cerebral wine drinkers, the season may determine what bottle hits the table that night. Balmy summer evenings, so goes the oft-regurgitated marketingspeak, call for crisp whites and rosés, while chilly winter evenings are best matched to hot, heavy reds ― which the marketers say must be paired to prime rib, pasta, or some rendition of pork.
So they say.
Given the idiosyncrasies of Bay Area weather, pretensions like that have a way of vaporizing. This year, January temperatures reached for 80 ― it was classic Vinho Verde weather, but we drank cheap Malbec and lived to remember it. Now that an extended cold rainstorm has hit the coast, the guidebooks would have us all be drinking meaty Cabs. Whatever. We opened a cheap white ― a 2010 California Pinot Grigio from FlipFlop Wines. Contrasting sharply with the miserable weather were scents of summer, including grapefruit, melon, honey, and tangerine peel, with a trace of apricot and peach. A piney aroma edged this delicate specimen beyond the go-to descriptors of California's fruit orchards into darker, damper places. We even found a faint whiff of fresh kelp, polished by the soft and creamy aroma of lychees.
We could have sniffed this one all night, yet we drank. We found the wine's crisp bite and acidity balanced by a brilliantly fruity tropical storm, with guava, mango, and grapefruit notes, and a faint whisper of white mulberry ― in case you have the faintest idea what a white mulberry tastes like.
FlipFlop Wines 2010 California Pinot Grigio: $7 suggested retail. On the shelves at MMC Wine and Spirits, 615 Sutter (at Mason), 474-4951 and Valencia Grocery, 1300 Valencia (at 24th St.), 641-6071
SFoodie's countdown of our 92 favorite things to eat and drink in San Francisco, 2011 edition.
In these days of diamond-encrusted smartphones, BeDazzled jeans, and even Vajazilling, who wants something that is un-bling'd? Not SFoodie. Take rice, which is otherwise our favorite staple. It's been stripped down so much it's little more than white, with almost zero nutrients, and about as boring as Top Chef: All-Stars. And brown rice? Boring in the same way that hippies are.
Then, the other day, we found ourselves starving in the Inner Sunset, and thought we wanted kabobs. Meat on a stick is never boring (admit it, even you fell for Mary when she said there should be more meat on sticks). Naturally, we went to Lavash , thinking we knew exactly what we wanted. But one menu item in particular blinded us: jeweled rice. Hells yes, there were even two options.
Zereshk polo ($14.95), basmati rice with barberries, raisins, and sautéed onion, served with chicken spiced with cumin, turmeric, and saffron, was the dish we chose. Although the adas polo (14.95), with rice mixed with lentils, cooked dates, orange zest, and cinnamon, looked just as good.
Traditional cannoli seem to have been all but forgotten in this era of cupcakes and macarons. SFoodie took advantage of a rare sunny weekend earlier this month to rekindle memories of Romolo's in San Mateo, the oldest (and only, for that matter) cannoli and spumoni factory in the Bay Area. The Cappello family has operated this shop since 1968, and 3 years ago grandson Joseph ("Joey") Cappello took over the reins with help from his brother Michael.
This quaint little shop is clean and brightly illuminated, with exceptional service that included patient explanations for newbies. The handmade cannoli shells are made from unbleached flour, raw sugar, honey, cinnamon, cocoa powder, butter, white wine, and a few secret ingredients. The ricotta cream filling is a blend of imported ricotta, sugar, spices, chocolate chips and traditional citron, instead of the candied orange peel that's become common in the U.S. The $3.25 price includes your choice of garnish: cherries, chocolate chips, or pistachios, and for $3.50, you can get a chocolate-coated shell. At first glance, the deep bronze of the fried shells makes them look burnt, but the color results from the ingredients, which are traditional. Lighter-hued shells from competitors simply lack the complex mix of the ones at Romolo's.
These days, the James Beard Awards are announced via Twitter, so starting at 11:30 this morning, SFoodie followed along, clicking "refresh" on our browser so often that we burned a white hole in our computer screen. Many, many Bay Area chefs, restaurateurs, and writers made the finals in both the media and the restaurant categories.
A few of the highlights: Benu as nominated for best new restaurant. Ubuntu's Aaron London and Flour + Water's Thomas McNaughton were nominated as rising star chefs. And four of the five finalists in the "Best Restaurant, Pacific" category were local.
The awards will be presented at two ceremonies in New York ― the media awards on May 6, the restaurant awards on May 9. Following is the list of local winners that we mined from the tweets. Feel free to check it against the full list of finalists in the press release. Congratulations to all!
Ask anyone who follows San Francisco's street-food scene which vendor hustles hardest, and chances are they'll name Soul Cocina's Roger Feely.
The man is everywhere. Festivals, secret after-hour street-food parties, weekly pop-up dinners, Indian cooking classes ― you name it ― Feely has a wide variety of outlets for slinging what SFoodie editor John Birdsall once called "the most polished and straight-up delicious food."
But as one of the original folks from the 2009 Street Food Explosion (which included Magic Curry Kart and Adobo Hobo), Feely says he might be forced to leave S.F.'s streets for Chicago, where his family now lives.
"I'm really upset about leaving," Feely tells SFoodie, citing his work connections, clients, and street-food comrades as things he'll miss most. Feeley has given himself a deadline of April 1 to decide if there's enough business for him to stay in the city, or if he'll pack up for the Midwest.
We know you don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, but what if you could make a fabulous dish that can be explained in the space of a tweet? This one's from Werner Albrecht, executive chef at Aurea in the Stanford Court Hotel, an exciting way to dress up green things:
Werner Albrecht's Strawberry Gelée and Arugula Salad
Reduce 2pt strwbrry&2cup sugar Add 4oz pwder gelatin cool in sheetpan Mix arugula w/ citron vin plate gelée, arugula, goat cheese&hazelnut
What's up, dog? Can you name the, um, breed of this breakfast dish and the San Francisco restaurant where SFoodie took this picture? Offer a guess in the comments below.
Congratulations to Alyson Thomas, who correctly (and quickly) identified the sandwich in last week's Mystery Spot as the PBJBF (Elvis Lives!) at Lafitte. What's more, Lafitte chef/owner Russell Jackson even offered Thomas a free Elvis to celebrate her win.
