Five SFoodie highlights from this week:
1. Sean Timberlake just updated the map of San Francisco farmers' markets that Jun Belen created last year. Then he came up with a schedule of markets, listed by day of the week. This is one for the bookmark bar in your browser. Is there any way we can turn it into an app?
2. Do you heart Chaac?
3. It's been amazing to watch the food community react to the Japan earthquake and tsunami by raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for relief efforts. Here's a smaller fundraising assignment for you this evening: Head down to Los Panchos at Mission and Valencia for few pupusas and and other Salvadoran antojitos ― the restaurant may have escaped major destruction from Wednesday night's fire, but the owners do have to repair a few things, and any extra business helps. Then head down for drinks and dancing (with DJ Hard French spinning, it won't be hard) at El Rio, dropping some cash at the door to help out the tenants of the buildings who lost everything.
With Easter reliable falling on a Sunday for the past, oh, 2000 years or so, gentiles have it easy when it comes to holiday dinners. Us Hebrews, not so much.
A full weekend to cook would be nice, but Passover can seem like a moving target, and this year it hits on a Monday. So instead of rushing home from work to chip away at a frozen block of matzo ball soup and reheating a Costco chicken, may we suggest three takeout options?
The Manishewitz-drinking traditionalist will appreciate the offerings from Miller's East Coast Delicatessen . Think classics: brisket with gravy, roast chicken, gefilte fish. A bit more out of the ordinary (at least for Bay Area Jewish food) are Miller's sweet and sour cabbage rolls and sweet matzo kugel.
OBUGS Fundraiser with Pizzaiolo and Chez Panisse
Where: Pizzaiolo, 5008 Telegraph (at 51st St.), Oakland, 510-652-4888
When: Sun., Apr. 10, 6-10 p.m.
Cost: $5 and up
The rundown: If you aren't taking your Sunday supper in a bakery or a car showroom, Oakland Based Urban Gardens (aka OBUGS) is throwing an affordable fundraiser with food from two East Bay titans. Chez Panisse and Pizzaiolo are teaming up for this feast to support OBUGS' edible garden classrooms throughout West Oakland. The penny pincher can buy food tickets for individual items at $5 a pop, $20 gets you miso ramen and a beer, and the piggy high roller dedicated philanthropist can eat everything in sight for $100.
Menu highlights: Wood oven-roasted crab; lamb wraps with harissa; spring vegetable tempura; house-made ice cream sandwiches; St. George Spirits cocktails
Tickets at Eventbrite
Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival
Where: Japantown, Post and Buchanan Streets
When: Sat.-Sun., Apr. 9-10, and 16-17; grand parade and anime costume awards on Sun., Apr. 17
Cost: Free; donations accepted for JCCNC's earthquake relief fund
The rundown: S.F.'s 44th annual Cherry Blossom Festival devotes two weekends to gorging on snacks like teriyaki burgers, Imagawa-yaki (sweet azuki-paste-filled pancakes), takoyaki balls, yakitori skewers, musubi (spam sushi), and onigiri (rice balls), plus many unique items like Okinawa soba (assuming shipments weren't affected by the recent disaster in Japan). Live performances by San Francisco Taiko Dojo, martial arts demonstrations, Japanese folk dancers and singers, local high schools, modern Yosakoi dance, Buyo (mime), modern vocalist Ayumi Perry, and much more. There'll also be demos of Naginata and Nipponto (Japanese swords), including Tameshi-giri (test-cutting bamboo reeds), Batto-jitsu (sword-drawing skills), and Ken-jitsu (fighting skills).
The Oakland Tribune is reporting that Jesus Campos, owner of Oakland's Otaez Mexicatessen, was shot and killed this morning in what authorities believe was an attempted robbery. From the Trib:
Jesus "Chuy" Campos was shot at 5:36 a.m. outside the 39th Avenue service entrance to Otaez Mexicatessen.... The gunman fled before police arrived. Campos, who lives just a few houses away, was there helping with preparations for a 6 a.m. breakfast serving.The Otaez Mexicatessen, at 3872 International (at 39th Ave.), is an anchor of Fruitvale's Mexican food scene, a place spilling over with families slurping birria and menudo on weekends. Campos launched the Mexicatessen in 1986. He opened the much grander Otaez restaurant in Alameda in 2006, and a smaller branch last year at Oakland International Airport.
Again from the Trib:
SFoodie's countdown of our 92 favorite things to eat and drink in San Francisco, 2011 edition.
In 1856 ― before the Civil War, before California became a state, before the signing of the Chinese Exclusion Act, before the advent of refrigeration ― Mow Lee began making Cantonese-style preserved meats in Chinatown. Six generations later, its 臘腸, or lap cheong, is still the best in the city.
If the thought of walking into a 145-year-old artisanal sausage-maker's shop fills the foodista with wonder, the reality is a bit more grim. The last generation of Lees to put any work into decorating the store may have witnessed the 1906 earthquake ― the Commercial Alley store is dim and cluttered, and merchandising consists of laying out big pans of waxed duck gizzards and lengths of Chinese bacon to sort through. The sausages, though, are more photogenic: The owners still sell lap cheong in pairs tied together with loops of twine, the kind of thing Underground Market vendors might do more self-consciously to emphasize their old-school cred. A string of lap cheong looks great hanging from a cabinet door, waiting to be sliced up for dinner, SFoodie confesses, and we'd consider hanging a ristra from the refrigerator if our partner allowed us to decorate in meat.
Peanuts and Cracker Jacks are just swell, but if you're like SFoodie, you'd rather celebrate your Giants pride with a festive beverage. As of today, the torture is over! In honor of our reigning champs' home opener, Public House is loading its taps with tribute beers:
• Iron Springs Brewery's Me And My Old Man is on deck for this weekend's opening festivities. Created in honor of the brewer's fond memories of opening day with his father, the beer is a traditional California Common (often used synonymously with San Francisco's heritage "steam"-style beer).
• Moylan's Brewery is contributing its Orange and Black Congrats Ale! Think of this black ale brewed with orange zest as the liquid version of a chocolate-covered candied orange peel....
• In addition to these Giant brews, Public House is tapping special kegs of an oak-aged IPA from Stone Brewing, and Speakeasy's Payback Porter, with additions of cocoa and vanilla bean.
SFoodie's roundup of tips, news, and rants from the week in animal-free eats.
• Listen, I know you want to get freaky with Robert Pattinson, but please don't go see Water for Elephants, because it looks like some crazy elephant exploiting bullshit. Also, we should talk more about your thing for Pattinson, because I heard he doesn't bathe. If that excites you, and you're rich, and you like ladies, you should e-mail me because I hate being clean! Shit, I use my shower as extra storage.
• Eric Ripert, the seafood king of New York City, got a radiation detector so he can test all incoming Japanese fish for RADIOACTIVE IODIDE. Marine Sciences professor Nicholas Fisher says, "You're not going to die from eating it right away. But we're getting to levels where I would think twice about eating it." Smart. Even smarter? Don't eat the fucking fish!
• We're using all our antibiotics on animals that are turned into food, and becoming immune to emerging superbugs in the process. It's seriously some dystopian future shit, and we're LIVING IN IT. Shit, I'm like Paul Revere riding into town to warn your asses and instead of fleeing, you just sit on your porches knitting American flags and drinking sweet tea made of bacon. Has history taught us nothing!??!
SFoodie is tickled by the fact that there's at least one bar in San Francisco where you can belly up and whisper to the bartender, "I wanna Smoke Weed," and you won't end up totally knocked on your ass. Koko Cocktails blends mezcal, lime juice, simple syrup, and a copious amount of cayenne pepper and calls it Smoke Weed because, as someone from the bar told us, "The mezcal is smoky and we were high when we thought of the name."
Cayenne sprinklings make frequent appearances in glasses all over town, but nowhere is it more sincere than in the Smoke Weed. It's the buzz you feel first, followed by the mezcal's blunted haze.
Koko Cocktails: 1060 Geary (at Van Ness), 885-4788.
Emergency Benefit for Victims of Fire at Mission and Valencia
Where: El Rio, 3158 Mission (at Precita), 282-3325
When: Tonight, Apr. 8, 8 p.m.-2 a.m.
Cost: Donations accepted at the door
The rundown: The fire that ripped through 3212 Mission (at 29th St.) Wednesday night did more than devastate Lotus Garden: It left as many as a dozen tenants homeless, their clothes and other possessions gone. Tonight's El Rio fundraiser promises music (DJ Hard French), drinks (duh), and a raffle (likely swag: a massage and facial, among other stuff). Get there early: El Rio says it'll donate 100 percent of drink proceeds between 8 and 9 p.m. directly to the displaced. You can also donate through PayPal at mission3212@gmail.com.
Follow us on Twitter: @sfoodie, and like us on Facebook. Contact me at John.Birdsall@SFWeekly.com
